It was my wife's great scream. It's my role in my house to take out the garbage in the morning on the designated days of garbage collection before I go to work．
There is a spreading move to charge for plastic shopping bags in Japan. Checkout bags are delivered at supermarkets or convenience stores. It's very convenient but could be the cause of a pile of pollution. This movement is to try to reduce the amount of trash. For example, in 2002, Suginami Ward, Tokyo, set an ordinance to impose a 5 yen tax on each plastic shopping bag.
I heard that 30 billion sheets of checkout bags are used in a year. The current legislation relating to checkout bags demands the collection of the bags which are thrown away from households as recyclable garbage. Unfortunately,in reality, few municipalities collect them as recyclable trash. Most of the checkout bags are buried in disposal facilities or incinerated.
In my hometown, Matsuyama city, authorities are also extremely demanding that garbage is separated according to type. Consequently, my wife shouts everyday like at the front.
(Vocabulary)
designated 指定［指名］された
plastic shopping bag レジ袋
ordinance 〔市町村の〕条例
legislation 立法行為、法律制定
municipality （地方）自治体、市町村
incinerate 焼いて灰にする、焼却処分する
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