To put it bluntly: I am lazy. Trash is unpleasant. It's unsurprising that the Taiwanese garbage system initially felt inconvenient and unpleasantto me. In America, I was accustomed to stuffing trash in bins, leaving them alone in front of my house, and trusting that the garbage worker would collect them.
But when I considered the piles of litter on corners in my hometown, or the numerous tumbleweed-like shopping bags that floated on streets, I realized the beautiful social design of the Taiwanese trash collection system. In the American trash cycle, it is perhaps buy item, enjoy item, throw remnants of the item and its packaging away. You never think about it again as it treks to the landfill. In Taiwan, throwing away the trash is a literal exercise as well as an exercise in restraint, in consumer habits, in efficiency, and in social responsibility.
On several occasions, I have announced that "I really need to stop buying things." This was because of how heavy each trash bag was and how sorting the trash made me aware of how many types of materials went into the packaging of every purchase. It was also because of how I felt much worse about the waste of the item than I felt good about the item I had purchased.
By requiring citizens to literally hand the trash to the sanitary workers, it establishes a sense of community: not just toward getting to know your neighborhood garbage man or woman, but also your neighbors. Together, we wait while the garbage truck approaches, exchange glances, and often a smile. I can't imagine other occasions which invite small talk so naturally. In contrast, in my part of the American suburbs, I rarely had instances to talk to my neighbors. I can't even say I know their names.
In handing trash to the sanitary worker, I am forced to confront the lifecycle of a product that became trash. We must sort them by plastics, papers, cans, and glassesto keep them pure with similar objects, so they can have another life and another use. The sanitary worker might shake their head when things are sorted improperly. They might even refuse to accept it. In some vaguely spiritual level, I appreciate this denial, as it gives respect to items as low as trash in that we must treat them mindfully. If we have done every step correctly in our trash sortingprocess, then the trash truck's mouth clamps down. In the vein of mindfulness, perhaps we can learn the most about ourselves in the way we treat the most unpleasant things. Even trash can provide a lesson.

『本專刊由<金門日報>編輯部與學術交流基金會(傅爾布萊特交換計畫/Fulbright Taiwan)共同策畫製作』