Bento-rama

After you've finished eating your bento, you have to dispose of the container properly. The container is made from a pressed styrofoam; to keep the food from soaking into it, the styrofoam is coated with a thin layer of plastic. Styrofoam and plastic coating must be recycled separately. Instructions are printed on the inside of the container.

Peel:

Then you take both pieces outside to this bewildering array of recycling bins.  Plastic in one, styrofoam in another:

Just as I have a favorite vending machine, I also have a favorite recycling machine.  Perhaps not coincidentally, it is always found next to a vending machine.  It's for recycling the paper cups.

You can pour any leftover liquid into the bin on the left.  Then you push a button to pop this lid open:

Empty cup goes upside down onto the exposed plastic post:

You close the lid, there is a whirring sound as the cup is, presumably, broken down into its component molecules, which are then sorted and distributed to appropriate locations around the country.

A shiny 10-yen coin (about 10 cents US) is your reward.  That's a significant discount on the price of the vending machine coffee.

I never did figure out all of the recycling and garbage categories in Japan.  This is the largest array of disposal bins I saw during my time there.  I think it was at a freeway rest stop on the Shimanami Kaidō.