From my friend, Marsha. 🤣
Trash in Chiang Mai is picked up on a schedule by someone driving a huge truck with young boys hanging on the back to gather bags and throw them in, much as we had in the states before automation allowed one man in a smart truck to drive by, pick up the can provided by the company, dump the contents into the truck, put the can back where it had been, and continue down the road.
Here in the condo building the subject of handling trash is much different.
There is a trash alcove behind the stairs and the elevator on each floor. There is no “trash day.” You take whatever trash you have to the alcove whenever you would like. Trash goes in the can and is picked up several times a week. If you have other things you don’t want, but that others might be able to use, you put it carefully beside the trash can on the floor or on top of a table-like thing above the trash can. One of the ways people make money around here is recycling. You flatten cardboard from boxes for example, stand it up carefully, and someone has taken it away the next time you go. Same for plastic bottles or glass bottles, carefully rinsed out and with lids. Same for some old pillows I put there, and some kitchen stuff left by the former tenants here.
I am amazed at how well the service works. Everyone is careful to wipe grease off plates and cookware so the pipes are not clogged up. The refuse from this is bagged and kept in your freezer until you’re making a ‘trash run’, down to the end of the hall in my case. I don’t think I have ever found anything left in the alcove to still be there the next time I was there. Excellent system!
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