Waiting for the Garbage Truck

Comparing with other countries, standing and waiting for the garbage truck was a distinguishing culture in Taipei. We would recognize the garbage truck because it played the music of “For Elise”, the Beethoven famous classic work. When the music was closer and closer, we would see a lot of people with bags of garbage in their hands waiting for the truck. As soon as the garbage truck got in, the waiting people swarmed around the truck to throw the garbage. Some of them ran from their house, with the trash bags, hurriedly. The residents around the community were going to throw the trash one after another. All of them were afraid that they would miss the garbage time.

To Taipei citizens, throwing out the garbage was like a necessary social function every day. No matter what it was sunny or rainy, hot or cold, they had to do so constantly.

Mr. Chen Yang Wen, the man who had being devoted to the environmental protection in DELTA Electronics Foundation, said, “Sometimes, although I complaint in my mind that I didn’t want to throw out the garbage every day. Sometimes, to throw the garbage would be a good excuse to avoid attending social activities.” When he said, “I would come back home before nine o’clock to throw the garbage”, anyone who heard that would agree with him and he would avoid some boring dinner party.

Mr. Chen thought it was a glory to talk about the experience of throwing trash in Taipei. When he went to other places, he would, somewhat, show off the social function for throwing trash in Taipei. In his mind, he thought it was a sign of environmental protection, a glory of being the earth citizen and a symbol of progress.

“Look! Taipei Citizens are doing the honorable thing of loving the earth.” Mr. Chen would like to talk about the topic of throwing garbage in good spirits. His friends in other places would have two kinds of responses. One emotional expression was admiring, and the other was lonesome. The social function of throwing trash was like a symbol of group behavior. It became the common recollection of Taipei citizens.

”For Elise” and the Garbage Truck

In Taipei, the Beethoven classic “For Elise” was the special meaning. When the music was sounding, the citizens would go to throw the garbage immediately.

When we visited Department of Environmental Protection in Taipei City Government (TDEP), we asked the question of why using the music “For Elise”?

The senior officers said that, at the earliest, the garbage trucks were bought from Germany. The original trucks were equipped with the music “For Elise”. They didn’t change the equipment and continued using the music. Most garbage trucks in Taipei used the music “For Elise”, and some of them played the music “The Maiden’s Prayer”. No matter what they played “For Elise” or “The Maiden’s Prayer”, they were to mention that the garbage truck was coming, and no special meaning for that.

We asked the sanitation worker, “When was the music sounding?” Mr. Zhang, the leader of the Shinyi Chiu Sanitary Team, explained that the music would have been sounding for two minutes before the garbage truck arrived at the spot, and for one minute continuously after arriving. Generally, the music would have been sounding for three minutes at a time.

Mr. Zhang said although the music was well-known, some people would complain that the voice was too noisy. Usually, if the music was playing in the evening, nobody would complain that. But if the music was playing after ten o’clock at night, the residents would give a complaint and the voice of the music would be as low as possible.

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