Ice Cream Truck Trash Man

The sound of the ice-cream truck reminds me of little kids running with joy during hot summer days. The jingle can be heard well before the truck arrives and serves as a way to bring the neighborhood together. In Taichung, the truck with the bells that brings people running from all over does not deliver ice cream. It picks up trash. Each evening, the trash comes to collect household rubbish, which can be food waste (I don’t want to call it compost because there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to what can be put in this container. I guess if it has or could end up associated with something remotely linked with food it becomes food waste), non recyclables or recyclables. A lot is recycled from our apartment (Styrofoam, batteries, and the usual paper and plastic.) From our balcony we look down and watch people run across the street, bags of trash in hand to the tune of the trash man.