ゴミ箱(ばこ)

Writing

Written ゴミ箱(ばこ), ごみ箱(ばこ), or rarely 塵箱(ごみばこ). Katakana ゴミ is the most common. 箱(はこ) voices to 箱(ばこ) in the compound.

Common collocations

• ゴミ箱(ばこ)に捨(す)てる: to throw something in the bin
• 分別(ぶんべつ)ゴミ箱(ばこ): a sorted-waste bin, with separate openings by material
• ゴミ箱(ばこ)を空(から)にする: to empty the bin

Cultural note

Public bins are notably scarce in Japan — most were removed after the 1995 Tokyo subway attack and never fully restored. Visitors are often surprised to find none on the street; the usual solutions are the bins beside convenience-store entrances and vending machines, or carrying rubbish home. Where bins do exist they are almost always 分別(ぶんべつ) sorted, and using the wrong opening is a real faux pas.

Related words

• 屑籠(くずかご): a wastebasket, more traditional and used of the small basket beside a desk
• ダストボックス: dustbox, a loanword found on signage and product labels rather than in speech
• ゴミ袋(ぶくろ): a rubbish bag, which in most municipalities must be a specified colour and type