When You Hear Beethoven, It’s Time to Take Out the Trash 

Across Taiwan, the classical melody “Für Elise” is a Pavlovian call to action: Bring down your garbage and catch up on neighborhood gossip.

The canary-yellow garbage truck rumbled along the narrow street, past bubble tea shops and squat apartment buildings, blasting into the chilly night air a tinny rendition of Beethoven’s “Für Elise.”

To much of the world, the classical melody is the (too) ubiquitous song of youthful piano lessons and children’s toys. But for the residents of Taiwan, the jingle is a call to action, the start of a nightly ritual, a signal to tie up those plastic bags and come on downstairs: It’s trash collection time.

“I enjoy taking out the trash because it’s a chance to catch up with my friends,” said Kusmi, 52, who is originally from Indonesia and now lives in Taipei, the island’s capital, where she works as a caregiver to the elderly.

The yellow trash truck — and a smaller white recycling truck behind it — heaved to a stop in front of a brightly lit convenience store in a middle-class residential neighborhood in Xinyi District, Taipei’s financial center.

For the next 20 minutes, what had been a subdued street scene transformed into something akin to a neighborhood block party as residents, old and young, converged on the trash truck from every direction. They came on foot, by bicycle and on scooters, lugging their presorted trash in carts and plastic bags. They wore jeans, store uniforms and sweatpants. Some brought their pets.

And yes, there were Crocs, those universal take-out-the-trash shoes...read more