Compost/Recyclables

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

First, I think it’s great I see all the restaurants and buildings now separate their garbage into food waste, waste paper, and other recyclables. In our building, there is a bin for “food waste” but all the food that people put in there are already in little plastic bags, and I am sure they’re not biodegradable bags, they’re those little pink/white stripe plastic bags, or other non-biodegradable bags. What happens to the food waste that gets dumped in that bin? Do the people who collect the compost bin actually open up each little bag and throw all the food into compost? I highly doubt that. Aren’t people supposed to put their food wastes into biodegradable bags before throwing them in the compost bin? Am I too granola? Am I thinking too much? :loco:

Also, where can I get a pamphlet that explains what type of waste goes in each bin? I’d like to know what sort of plastics and papers I can recycle here. And are napkins, tissues, kleenexes, regular paper allowed to go in compost? In SF we compost all food, paper products, and pizza boxes.

Thanks.

2

I always get the feeling its not so much what type as the size. They tend to jstu throw small bits away. Recycling here is an income, and not a bad one. So you go for the big, heavy chunks before you get the small time consuming ones.

but putting the food still int eh bag into the food waste is just rude. the smallest amount of common sense would tell them to obviously separate it, hence the extra bin. its a shame people here don’t do this more. we even have recycle trucks AND compost trucks coming to our doorstep…and its almost free…a concept my family in Canada still cant comprehend.

And most “compost bins” are actually destined for pig farms :slight_smile:

3

immigration.gov.tw/ct.asp?xI … 39&mp=T002

[quote]Resource Recycling
Source:National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the InteriorDate:2010/4/10

I. Recycling logo
The 4-in-1 logo is the logo designated by the EPA to be carried on all due recyclable products. The four arrows on the logo represent the four players in the Four-in-One Program(community residents,municipal garbage collection teams, recycling enterprise and the Recycling Management Fund.

II. Garbage classification and recycling:
Garbage is classified into four categories of recyclables, bulky wastes, reusable wastes, kitchen waste and general garbage:
A. Bulky waste:
Including extra-large sized items like furniture, tree branches or general wastes prescribed by government agencies.
Processing method:
Contacting county or city environmental protection agencies or private waste treatment companies contracted by government agencies to arrange pickup time and venues.
B. Reusable/recyclable wastes:
Including wastes like paper, glass or metal and plastic materials that can be recycled and processed for reuse.
Including：
1.Waste paper
2.Waste metals
3.Waste aluminum
4.Waste glass
5.Waste plastics：PET、PE、PVC、PP、PS、Bioplastic
6.Waste dry batteries
7.Waste motor vehicles
8.Waste tire(s)
9.Waste lead-acid batteries
10.Waste electrical appliances：television sets, washing
machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, fans
11.Waste computer appliances：PCs (including：cases, motherboards, monitors, hard disk drives, power supplies, keyboards), notebook PCs and printers.
12.Waste lighting illuminants
13.Compact disks
14.Cell phone and rechargers
Processing methods:
1.Turning in to the recycling trucks of cleaning squads at designated time and venues with stipulated operations process.
2.Leaving inside recycling buckets (containers, stations).
3.Handing over to vendors, or returning them via recycling channels.

C. Kitchen waste:
“Food waste suitable for pig feed”: Ordinary cooked or uncooked rice and dish leftovers, noodles, fish, shrimps, meats, animal internal organs, processed foods past shelf life, etc.
Processing method:
Turning over to executing government agencies or cleaning by specialized vehicles of contracted organizations by the agencies.
D. General waste:
Wastes that cannot be recycled for reuse.
Processing method:
Leaving directly to garbage collection trucks.

III. General garbage disposal:
Various county and city governments adopt different disposal methods .Taipei City started to implement the “Per Bag Trash Collection Fee” policy on July 1, 2000; Shikang District of Taichung City started on November 1, 2000; Shenkeng District of New Taipei City started on July 1, 2008; Yingge District, Bali District and Shiding District, New Taipei City starting on May 1, 2009; Yungho District, Tucheng District and New Taipei City starting on July 1, 2009. Jhonghe District, Sanchong District, Shulin District, Sanshia District, Tamsui District, Pinglin District, Taishan District, Linkou District and Jinsan District, Sanzhi District and Shihmen District of Taipei County started on July 1, 2010. New Taipei City implemented the strategy of per- bag-trash-collection fee at the end of 2010. All residents are required to purchase specially designated garbage bags, which are available at 24-hour convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and FamilyMart chains or supermarkets. Consumers may also make purchases at stores marked by the sign“Specialized Garbage Bag Marketing Outlet.” Other counties attach the fee to the tap water bill.
IV. Key points for resource recycling:
A. Cleaning waste containers or food trays before turning them in so as to prevent foul odors during storage and transport that may affect environmental hygiene.
B. Waste batteries are small in size and are harmful. They should be stored in a plastic container to prevent leakage or corrosion caused by electrolytes.
C. Package waste light bulbs in original paper wraps or paper boxes before collection to avoid breakage. Broken light bulbs should be packaged and sealed before collection. Waste light bulbs can be handed to municipal waste collection trucks, light bulbs retailers, or collectors for further recycling. For more information, please call the toll-free number 0800-085717 or visit the website recycle.epa.gov.tw.
D. For bulky items like furniture, household electrical appliances, computers, tires, motorcycles or tree branches, residents should first call their county or city environmental protection agency or a private waste treatment company contracted by a government agency to arrange pickup time and venue.
E. The “Five Days a Week Collection Program” for household garbage and recyclables – different days for different objects – adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) of Taipei City:
Sun & Wed
No Pickup Flattenable Recyclables:

  1. Paper
  2. Old clothes
  3. Clean plastic bags Cubic Recyclables:
  4. Clean Styrofoam
  5. General:
    (Cans, bottles, containers, small home appliances)

F. Collection of kitchen waste in Taipei City:
1.Two categories:
(a)Food waste suitable for pig feed:
Including cooked or uncooked rice and dish leftovers, noodles, fish, shrimps, meats, animal internal organs, etc.
(b)Food waste for composting:
Including vegetable leaves, fruit peels and kernels, tea leaves, plant leaves, cut flowers, and anything unsuitable for pig feed.
2. Collection schedule: Same as the collection timetable for recyclable waste every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

V. Bulky furniture:

  1. In order to observe the “off-the-ground” policy – not leaving garbage on the ground – such as Taipei City, first contact the DEP or the cleaning squad and leave the items at the designated location and time, if residents have just one or two pieces of furniture to dispose of. The service is free. However, a fee will be charged by the contracted private waste treatment firms, if there is a large amount of objects to be handled.
  2. When living in areas with garbage collection service, first call the local environmental protection agency or private waste treatment company contracted by the government agency to find out pickup time and venues for bulky items. Most cities and townships have one day designated for collecting such items every week.

VI. References:

  1. Resource recycling hotline: 0800-085717 (The last six digits in Chinese sound similar to“nin bang wo chin yi chin” which means “you help me clean and clean).
  2. Website: recycle.epa.gov.tw (Chinese version)
  3. DEP website of Taipei City:
    (a)http://www.dep.taipei.gov.tw/ (Chinese version)
    (b)http://english.dep.taipei.gov.tw/(English version)
    4.Environment Protection Department, New Taipei City Government
    (a) [epd.ntpc.gov.tw/(Chinese](http://www.epd.ntpc.gov.tw/(Chinese) version)
    (b)http://www.epd-en.ntpc.gov.tw/(English version)
    5.Environment Protection Bureau, Taichung City Government
    (a)http://www.epb.taichung.gov.tw/(Chinese version)
    (b)http://www.epb.taichung.gov.tw/english_b/index.asp(English version)
  4. Environment Protection Bureau, Tainan City Government
    (a)http://www.tnepb.gov.tw/(Chinese version)
    (b)http://www.tnepb.gov.tw/en/index.htm(English version)
  5. Kaohsiung Municipal Government’s (KMG) Department of Environmental Protection:
    (a)http://www.ksepb.gov.tw/(Chinese version)
    (b)http://www.ksepb.gov.tw/English/index.htm(English version)[/quote]
4

Pig food and compost is normally separated: for pig food, you should only put fresh vegetable peelings and suchlike in the bin. Use your common sense. Pretty much anything biodegradable can go in the compost. Not so long ago, the contents of the “compost” bin was just incinerated because they couldn’t get it to actually compost (too wet, presumably), until some westerner came along (about 10 years ago) and explained to them how composting works. Or so it was explained to me by someone with connections.

The reason people put the food in plastic bags is simply because they’re lazy, thoughtless idiots - and yes, somebody probably does have to separate them out. Most (not all) of the people in my building do seem to “get it”.

5

Isn’t it the opposite? I thought pig food was all the scraps of leftover and unused food. Compost is veggie and fruit peelings and so on.

6

Friend of mine did a bit of research on the pig industry here, and apparently all the pig food goes into a big ol’ boiler and gets turned into a pile of unappetising gloop. Poor pigs. Point is, it gets sterilized, but bacterial/fungal toxins might survive - so you shouldn’t be giving them anything rotten/mouldy. Random plate scrapings should be fine because they’re fresh, but I think you’re not supposed to put meat in there.

Pretty much anything organic will compost, of course. If in doubt, put it in the compost rather than inflict it on the pigs.

7

[quote=“finley”]Friend of mine did a bit of research on the pig industry here, and apparently all the pig food goes into a big ol’ boiler and gets turned into a pile of unappetising gloop. Poor pigs. Point is, it gets sterilized, but bacterial/fungal toxins might survive - so you shouldn’t be giving them anything rotten/mouldy. Random plate scrapings should be fine because they’re fresh, but I think you’re not supposed to put meat in there.

Pretty much anything organic will compost, of course. If in doubt, put it in the compost rather than inflict it on the pigs.[/quote]

You don’t know art, but man, you sure know your pigs. :laughing: :wink:

8

Personally I never bother with recycling the food waste because it’s just foul. But there’s a special bucket for that. It has a drain in it that captures the solids and allows all the liquid to flow to the bottom of the bucket. No plastic bag should go in there. And most importantly, it has a lid.

9

Pigs is people too!

10

Seems like putting food waste into the trash would get your trash pretty foul as well?
I just put my food waste into a plastic bag and put it straight into my freezer. Keeps it from getting foul, so I can wait as long as I like before taking it to the truck. I tried the bucket thing at first, but it just got too gross too fast. I guess I never have leftovers though, so it’s just vegetable/fruit peelings and that sort of thing.

11

Well, the guys in our neighborhood trash truck are pretty strict: cooked stuff in the pig bin, which is huge, you have tobe Michael Jordan to haul teh bag above that and then veggie peels and such in the other. If someone throws in a bag, they get an earful.

BTW, talking about this topic, on the sales channel the otehr night they were selling a compost making machine. This thing -that looks like a breadmaker- has a motor and it churns its special mix of soillike stuff. You put the peels and whatever inside and it “cooks” for a few hours. Voila, in no time you have real compost, no smells, no bags dripping, no hassle. 6K, please, cash or credit card.

12

Yeah, the guys running the trucks have a slightly odd conception of what’s compostable, what’s edible, and what’s neither. Reminds me of when I first got to Taiwan and attempted to sort all my plastic into different types - HDPE, LDPE, PP, etc etc. I was assuming, of course, that these things would be recycled. The garbage guys freaked out. As I was eventually instructed, the proper classification is: flat things, and round things. Stoopid foreigners. Possibly things are different now - fortunately I now live in a building where somebody figures out the weird sorting rules for us.

Any web link for the breadmaker thingy, Icon? I’m curious how it works. Sounds rather like standard-issue Taiwan greenwash - using a vast amount of energy to achieve something that could be done better (and for free) with time and patience.

13

Well, the VivaTv website is down currently but I’m also interested in this item -not having a piece of land of my own to have a little compost corner.

Of course, this comes from the guys selling the UV desinfectant wands.

14

[quote]Friend of mine did a bit of research on the pig industry here, and apparently all the pig food goes into a big ol’ boiler and gets turned into a pile of unappetising gloop. Poor pigs. Point is, it gets sterilized, but bacterial/fungal toxins might survive - so you shouldn’t be giving them anything rotten/mouldy. Random plate scrapings should be fine because they’re fresh, but I think you’re not supposed to put meat in there.
[/quote]

i think thats probably in cities. Here the buckets (5gallon paint buckets) that hang form electrical poles all over the place are dumped right into the pigs slop dish. garbage and everything. Its one of the reasons i stopped eating pork all together. though from what i have seen this is usually the poorer farmers as the more well off ones seem to have an attitude towards those guys as they are begging for free food. jstu what i noticed here, sterilizing is good to hear being done. But it doesnt protect from inorganic pollutants :frowning: or at least i assume it doesnt?

In the end I far rather separate my food waste than my toilet waste.