Take out the trash when you hear Beethoven世界名曲让倒垃圾充满仪式感

Amy Qin

在中國台湾，伴随着贝多芬的《致爱丽丝》，人们纷纷走上街头倒垃圾，这是一种常见的景象。

For the residents of Taiwan， China， the classical melody， Bee?thoven's Für Elise， is a signal to tie up plastic bags and come on down-stairs. 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， where she works as a caregiver to the elderly.

The yellow trash truck and a smaller white recycling truck behind it stopped in front of a brightly lit convenience store. A team of garbage collectors jumped down and began setting out separate receptacles （容器） for paper， plastic， glass， metal， raw food and cooked food. For the next 20 minutes， residents， old and young， moved towards the trash trucks from every direction， carrying their trash in carts and plastic bags.

Waste collection systems vary around the world， but no place does it quite like Tai-wan. Visit any city or rural town and five days a week， rainy or sunny， you'll find people wandering on the side of the road with bags at their side， waiting for the garbage trucks.

It remains a mystery how Für Elise was chosen. Some say a health official chose the Beethoven song after overhearing his daughter playing it on the piano.

Despite what seems the effectiveness of Taiwan's approach， not everyone is happy with the system. Some have complained that the music is too loud. Others have expressed frustration about having to plan their lives around the trash collection times.

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Why was Für Elise chosen to be the signal to take out the trash？89607ED4-C2A3-4E94-AC5E-E1BE96794BD2