Three separate places I went to at 8 in the morning. Gas station, dunkin’ donuts, and then a convenience store. All of them, trash is full. People wonder why they litter in the USA, there’s nowhere to throw away trash when you’re out. It’s unbelievable People can just go to work and choose not to do their job anymore. That people see this and they don’t have any problem with it, no interest at all to keep things neat and tidy and clean. Nope.
All you need is a can return policy and some homeless.
They don’t even have that, they just have seperate bins for cans and bottles and people use them, and the only public places to throw away trash are in convenience stores. Which tbf exist like every 400m.
There are exceptions but generally people just keep the city clean because they want to (and social pressure).
Bottle/can deposit system can do a lot to make bins less full though. Japan just doesn’t seem to need it.
I distinctly remember a few scenarios where I heard they do. Maybe it’s not can return policy but as scrap metal. This article mentions it, too.