Trash

Amazing, the blog is working. I have so much to say but the server has been down for weeks!

Anyway, all is well -- or sort of. I would really like it if we got paid sooner or later without a million excuses but supposedly it is on the way. In November I will be rich!

The topic for today will be trash. I have never been anywhere where they take it so seriously. Taiwan has the stated goal of being trash free by 2008. That means everything will be recyclable.

We have trash pickup every night. Ostensibly this keeps the rodent population down. The garbage truck plays a tune like the Good Humor man and everyone runs down to the designated corner to wait for the truck. The truck slows down (no, not stops) and everyone rushes up and throws their trash into the back while it is rolling. This stuff was previously defined to me as "wet trash". That seemed easy enough to differentiate from the recyclables that we already know: glass, cans, newspapers. Not true! Paper that has been used is not recyclable, some plastic bags are, some are not. If your guess wrong, the garbage man will refuse your trash. They can even fine you!

Two days each week (and every neighborhood know which ones they have) a second truck follows the first. This is the recycling truck. So, first you run to the garbage truck, throw your stuff in, then run back to the second truck and hand that bag up. It doesn't stop moving either but you can't toss it since there is probably glass in the bag. This becomes quite the neighborhood event. I've met lots of people this way, mostly because we have crashed into each other trying to get to the truck before it goes away.

We have lunch at school -- buffet style. Food isn't bad and it's very cheap. Everyone brings their own bowl, chopsticks and some sort of dish. When you are done, there are about 4 plastic disposal units. The first is for food (except bones), the second is for bones, the third is for napkins (used) and the fourth is for plastic if we have anything like pudding cups. It takes longer to dispose of your leavings than it does to eat! All of this is accomplished with much seriousness. They look at me oddly if I chuckle.

The food (without the bones) is sold to a neighboring farmer to be fed to animals. The bones go to a fertilizer plant where they are ground up and I have no idea where the paper and plastic go.

We are certainly doing our bit to make the 2008 goal.