Insufficient public trash cans pose problem to residents, survey finds

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on June 7, 2006. It reports that in recent years, Taiwanese households and offices have become quite used to recycling their trash. However, according to a recent survey, 50 percent of the respondents consider disposing of garbage outdoors to be very inconvenient because of a lack of garbage bins.

The nationwide survey was conducted by the Good Neighbor Foundation. According to the survey, as many as 62 percent of the respondents complained that there is an insufficient number of public trash bins. This has led to some pedestrians throwing their garbage on the sidewalk or into the baskets of parked scooters.

According to the survey, 95 percent of the respondents thought that there should be clear signs indicating what kind of trash can be deposited in different trash bins. Other suggestions included large openings of the trash bins for convenient disposal of garbage, large capacity of the bins, and obvious trash separation compartments.

Meanwhile, according to the survey, 88 percent of the respondents demonstrated their environmental awareness by disposing used newspaper into the waste paper bin while throwing empty beverage cans into the general recyclable bin. As many as 94 percent of the respondents were in favor of the government's garbage separation policy, which became effective all around Taiwan in January 2006. While 72 percent of the respondents said that sorting out their garbage has not been a hassle, 88 percent said that they separate their garbage even when using public trash bins.

In an attempt to increase the number of trash bins in Taiwan's public areas, the Good Neighbor Foundation recently announced the launch of a public garbage bin design competition. The top winner of the competition will be awarded a cash prize of NT$100,000.