Taipei Garbage Collection Coming Soon To The US
This is a great post from John Chow on his recent trip to Taipei. Essentially, they have a different view of garbage collection and the way things get done. I read all of John’s posts are have him in my must read’s. He is a great blogger.
John posted this as an impromptu post when he encountered this on accident. What is interesting is that this, along with so many other things in our society right now, is about to change drastically due to the things going on in the economy. This is a staple in all things manly…impromptu stuff…
GAS PRICES
People were just pissed off when gas prices hit $3/gallon last year. It did nothing to change car usage or consumption habits here in the States. Now that gas prices are north of $4/gallon with no real end in sight based on the price of oil, people are way beyond pissed. They are taking action. SUV’s and Pick-ups are on the selling block over town and prices on these guzzlers are coming way down. Even guys who use these auto’s as an extension of “who they are” or compensating for other inadequacies, are now simply saying “screw it. I can’t afford it and it is not that important.”
Gas prices just might force this type of solution for our garbage disposal. Our local garbage hauler will raise prices soon and guys like me will quickly tell them to go flock themselves – I will dispose of my own garbage – especially if I can do it cheaper.
FOOD PRICES
The price of a gallon of milk at our local store is now $4.30. There are many reasons for this, but WTF? The wife and I will make sure we will use every piece of food and throw NOTHING away. The price of cheese (and my wife is an addict to the stuff) has doubled over the last year! Absolutely NO more waste in our household. Again, another very significant trend to MUCH less garbage. If everyone does this, it will not make sense anymore for the trash man to make normal rounds around town in their gas guzzlers.
GREENING OF EVERYTHING
I called this over two years ago. EVERYTHING is going green and there is no argument here that this method of trash collection is greener than the current one. If we all lived in high-rises, the garbage collection would be identical to this one. You bring your garbage to a central location and it gets sorted and processed. Efficient and the ecological footprint is MUCH smaller. There is not much else to say on this “greening of everything” unless you have been living in a cave for the past couple of years – which I wouldn’t put past some of the folks I run into on a daily basis…
SMART DEVELOPMENT
As a developer, I can tell you that real estate usage and smart design is at the VERY top of our list when it comes to new projects. Smaller roads, alley loaded products, walk ability and mixed-use type of developments all lead to a garbage collection solution similar to one we see on this video.
IN CONCLUSION
Going to the garbage man with your garbage/recycling would suck (because it is such a change in mentality), but just might be the only way we can manage this in the future. It might be thrust upon us and it just might help all of us think a little bit about our consumption and our waste.
I am a bottom line kind of guy and I act with my pocketbook. If my collection company decides to charge a BUNCH more scratch to pick up my waste, then I will no doubt look for a different solution. This solution looks interesting and I can see this happening at some point in the future right here.