Taiwan says no trash cans? 台灣說沒有垃圾桶？
Noted: We strictly followed Taiwan CDC’s Covid-19 rules by wearing masks and hand sanitizing during the whole interview. 在整個採訪過程中，我們嚴格遵守台灣疾病預防控制中心的Covid-19規定，戴著口罩並進行手消毒。
These photos are taken on the streets nearby our school (NSYSU). Do you notice that the trash cans are hard to be seen?
這些照片是在中山大學附近的街道上拍的。是否注意到很少有垃圾桶呢？
We have been here for almost 9 months here in Kaohsiung and remember exactly when We found just a few trash cans are placed on the street of where We live (the same in other cities that We have been to).
我們在高雄已經來這裡將近9個月了，還記得什麼時候我們發現我們生活的街道上只放了幾隻垃圾桶（去過的其他城市也一樣）。
This is obviously a simple yet smart move towards keeping streets clean. It also reminds me of South Korea with its brilliant volume-based fee waste system enforced back in 1995. “This pay-as-you-throw waste management system would impose a differentiated treatment cost determined by the amount of waste generated by each household resident. Under the system, waste is collected in synthetic resin bags, that are purchased at the price of the waste treatment cost”. Recyclable wastes however, remained free of charge as long as being sorted in separate bins. This would play a significant role in reducing the volume of garbage generated while encouraging residents to maximise their recycling. Prior to this, recycling rates were extremely low since there was no incentive for households to care about recycling.
顯然，這是保持街道清潔的簡單而明智的舉動。這也讓我想起了韓國在1995年實施了按量收費垃圾處理系統。“這種隨用隨付的垃圾處理系統將產生差異化的處理成本，該成本由每個家庭產生的垃圾量決定居民。在該系統下，廢物被收集在合成樹脂袋中，並以廢物處理成本的價格購買。但是，只要在單獨的垃圾箱中分類，可循環再利用的廢物將保持免費。這個窩應當在減少垃圾產生量方面發揮重要作用，同時鼓勵居民最大程度地回收利用垃圾。在此之前，回收率極低，因為沒有激勵家庭關心回收的動機。
Lots of questions were going around my mind on how Taiwanese actually like the fewer dustbins and could the waste rate policy from South Korea be applied in Taiwan. That’s why me and my teammate Chloe hit the street of Kaohsiung to find out! 關於台灣人實際上如何喜歡較少的垃圾箱，以及韓國是否可以在台灣實施韓國的廢品率政策，我想到了很多問題。這就是為什麼我和我的隊友克洛伊（Chloe）在高雄街上尋找答案的原因！
Our first interviewee shared that he gets used to carrying his personal trash along until he is back home to get rid of them. So, he finds it completely fine with the fact that Taiwan’s public space reduces the number of garbage bins. He further agrees that this move would help prevent people from littering on the street. The guy also mentioned that even though the country has been making increasing efforts to waste management, not all of Taiwanese people knows how to properly sort their waste. He even took some specific examples which people are confused to sort, including straw’s individually wrapped packages and the plastic cover of single-use utensils. As for waste sorting, he believes that stricter processes should be imposed at households’ level as he finds most of the Taiwanese won’t do separating trash at home.
He agreed with the policy and said that the policy could contribute to a higher recycling rate in Taiwan where there is little penalty for households to care about recycling.
我們的第一位受訪者分享說，他習慣於隨身攜帶個人垃圾，直到他回到家擺脫這些垃圾為止。因此，他發現台灣的公共空間減少了垃圾箱的數量，這是完全可以的。他進一步同意，此舉將有助於防止人們在街上亂丟垃圾。這位傢伙還提到，儘管台灣一直在加大管理力度，但並不是所有台灣人都知道如何正確分類廢物。他也舉了一些常見的例子，包括用稻草單獨包裝的包裝和一次性用具的塑料蓋。至於垃圾分類，他認為應該在家庭層面實行更嚴格的程序，因為他發現大多數台灣人不會在家中分類垃圾。
他同意該政策，並表示該政策可能有助於提高台灣的回收率，因為台灣的家庭關心回收的處罰很少。
We then bumped into a mother and her high school daughter on the street who are very much engaged with our questions. The mother never really thinks about the fact there are less garbage bins in Taiwan as she actually believes that it is the same case in every country. And they appeared to responsibly manage their personal waste by holding on to them in the car or backpacks until they find the right place to toss in.
She added that waste sorting very much depends on the public awareness which she found to be relatively lower among the elderly than the other groups. Our conversation got more exciting when we talked about the waste management scheme imposed in South Korean. Both the mother and her daughter would be more than happy to have such policy in Taiwan because it would help bring waste management in the country to the next level. She strongly believes that it would be successful by citing the success story of the ban on free plastic shopping bags from many common businesses as a measure restricting plastic bag use (in Taiwan, people who need shopping plastic bags now have to pay for them).
然後，我們在街上碰到一位母親和她的高中女兒，他們非常關心我們的問題。這位母親從未真正想到過台灣的垃圾桶越來越少，因為她實際上認為每個國家的情況都是如此。他們似乎負責任地管理自己的個人廢物，方法是將他們抓緊放在汽車或背包中，直到找到合適的地方扔掉。
她也說垃圾分類在很大程度上取決於公眾的意識，她發現老年人的意識比其他群體要低。當我們談論韓國實行的廢物管理計劃時，我們的談話變得更加令人興奮。母親和女兒都非常樂意在台灣實行這樣的政策，因為這將有助於將台灣的廢物管理提高到一個新的水平。她堅信通過引用許多常見企業免費塑料購物袋的成功案例作為限制塑料袋使用的一種措施，這種成功將是成功的（在台灣，現在需要購物塑料袋的人們必須為此付費） 。
The next interviewee said “We do notice that fewer garbage bins are placed here on the street and it is a good move in certain ways by reminding us about how much trash we produce because we have to carry our waste along until until we get home” he explained what he usually manage his personal trash. However, he expressed mixed thoughts by pointing out some cons of taking away public trash bins. “The only way to throw your trash is to wait for the garbage truck which indeed causes inconvenience for those who came home late from work. And so, We saw some of them just throw their trash on the street instead”. When being asked to give his opinions of the South Korean’s pay-as-you-throw policy, he disagrees to apply in Taiwanese context as there are still many people are not able to afford the non-recyclable waste fine.
Despite how much potential the policy seems to be, some don’t give 100% trust on it. We met a couple who were saying that even with the policy executed, it may not do much to the waste management and many people would be willing to pay.
下一位受訪者說：“我們確實注意到，街道上的垃圾箱數量減少了，這在某些方面是個好舉動，提醒我們產生多少垃圾，因為我們必須一直把垃圾一直帶到回家為止。”他解釋了自己通常如何處理個人垃圾。但是，他指出了帶走公共垃圾桶的一些弊端，表達了不同的想法。“扔垃圾的唯一方法是等待垃圾車，這確實給那些下班回家的人帶來了不便。因此，我們看到其中一些人只是在街上丟了繼承人的垃圾”。當被要求對韓國的即付即付政策發表意見時，他不同意在台灣背景下申請，因為仍有許多人無法負擔不可回收垃圾罰款。
儘管該政策似乎有很大的潛力，但有些人對此並不給予100％的信任。我們遇到了一對夫婦，他們說即使執行了該政策，它對廢物管理的影響也可能不大，許多人願意付錢。
To sum up, it’s fair to say that Taiwan has achieved a remarkable result by getting rid of many public dustbins. This method indeed decreases littering while reminding the citizens of waste sorting. On the other hand, one of its disadvantages is that you have to carry the trash with you all the way home (or until you find a public trash bin). But once you become familiar with it, you will no longer feel that keeping the trash with you unusual or annoying. In the end, we always need to sacrifice our convenience for the sake of Mother Earth, right?!
總而言之，可以說台灣通過消除許多公共垃圾箱而取得了令人矚目的成就。這種方法的確可以減少亂拋垃圾，同時提醒市民進行垃圾分類。另一方面，它的缺點之一是您必須將垃圾帶到家中一路回家（或直到找到公共垃圾桶為止）。但是，一旦您熟悉了它，您將再也不會覺得隨手丟垃圾變得異常或令人討厭。最後，為了地球母親，我們總是需要犧牲我們的便利，對吧？
