Tokyo neighborhood adds new “smart trash cans” to deal with increasing amounts of tourist litter
A high-tech part of Tokyo gets some high-tech help in addressing an overtourism problem and responding to a common traveler complaint. Downtown Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood is already one of the most popular tourism destinations for travelers in Japan, by nature of being the country’s center of anime and video game fan culture, and a couple […]
The Akihabara neighborhood in Tokyo is a popular tourism destination for anime and video game fans, but an increase in litter has become a common complaint among visitors. In response to this issue, Chiyoda Ward, which includes Akihabara, has installed 22 "smart trash cans" from Forcetec, a Tokyo-based tech company. These innovative receptacles, powered by solar energy, can compress their contents to one-fifth of their original size, reducing the overall volume of waste.
The smart trash cans can also communicate with a cloud network to alert maintenance workers when they are nearly full, allowing for more efficient trash collection. The 22 bins are strategically placed around Akihabara Station and along Chuo-dori, the main shopping street in the area. This initiative is part of a broader effort to address the city's lack of public trash receptacles and to enforce stricter penalties for littering in the Shibuya neighborhood.
While the new measures may not completely erase the negative impact of tourism on Akihabara, they provide a step in the right direction towards maintaining cleaner streets.
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