Photo/Illutration Trash cans at Ueno Station along the Hibiya Line in Tokyo (Provided by Tokyo Metro Co.)

Trash bins, once taken for granted by the millions of commuters who rely on the Tokyo rail network, are fast disappearing from the metropolitan area as operators move to make their facilities safer to use.

Tokyo Metro Co. is the latest operator to come on board. It removed all trash cans from its station premises following the end of business hours on Jan. 16.

Three kinds of trash bins used to be available: for cans and glass bottles, burnable items and newspapers and magazines. They were placed at a total of 239 spots at Tokyo Metro stations.

However, recycling bins beside vending machines will remain.

In the past, Tokyo Metro used to temporarily remove rubbish bins as a safety precaution to coincide with events such as summits and international meetings.

But now, trash bins are being removed for good due to security concerns.

“Suspicious objects were detected on many occasions in the past,” said a Tokyo Metro representative. The official denied that the purpose of the
removal was to save costs for trash recovery and cleaning.

Trash cans are vanishing at a growing number of stations. Both Tokyu Railways Co. and Keio Corp. gave up maintaining trash boxes in the aftermath of the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

Seibu Railway Co., likewise, removed rubbish bins at all its stations in March last year. It complained that people were increasingly bringing garbage from their homes to dispose of it at train stations.

Another factor is simply a matter of hygiene in light of the number of surgical masks worn as protection against the novel coronavirus that are found discarded in station areas. 

Tobu Railway Co. said it is “moving toward removing” trash bins as part of anti-terror and other measures, while Odakyu Electric Railway Co. is “considering whether” to do so.

Rail operators simultaneously trashed their trash cans following a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult that eventually claimed 13 lives and sickened thousands. However, they were later reinstalled gradually at the request of users, according to the transport ministry and other sources.

Many of the newly reintroduced ones were transparent to make it easier to see what was being thrown away.

The ministry called for the tentative removal of trash bins as a safety measure every time a terror attack targeting rail lines occurred overseas or when international events were being held in Japan. It was left to train operators to decide whether to make the change permanent.

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) has yet to abandon trash cans at stations.

“Rubbish boxes are set up in places where staff can keep an eye on them, so we have no plans to remove them,” said a JR East official.

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