Saturday, April 14, 2012

trash day

Chinese seem to generate MUCH less trash than we Americans do. Trash cans are tiny, think of your bathroom trash in the States, and I swear it takes me forever to fill mine at home. Granted I'm rarely home and I'm living a bit of a minimalist lifestyle, but I think it's also a function of how things are here. There is much less packaging and also less specialization of products, so when something has so many more uses than in the States, you're less apt to throw it out.

What they do with trash is kind of disturbing though, and definitely adds to the air pollution. Trash from inside apartments and businesses is taken outside and put in the garbage "cans," which are holes in the ground instead of dumpsters. Then, maybe once a week, everything in the holes is burned.

Something about burning ALL trash, plastic, aluminum, etc. included seems like a bad idea, but maybe that's just me...






2 comments:

  1. That is crazy you are learning about this stuff. Very very interesting indeed. I love those cultural irregularities that you just don't really read about. Stuff like the garbage collection is exactly the kind of thing I find really interesting. I am definitely now following your blog! If you can, return the favor at jjchalupnik.com :) I am looking forward to reading about more of your awesome adventures over there.

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  2. Thanks JJ! Yeah, those day to day things are most interesting for me here. I've been catching up on your blog as well. Congrats again on the new gig, I'm glad you actually took it this time. Looking forward to following your new projects as well...

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