OUR whole household was in, an uproar, and the youngest daughter in retreat higgledy-piggledy to her room. It was the second time that she had neglected to take out the garbage bin. And it was high summer.

Singaporeans, pampered by the luxury of daily refuse collection and no restrictions placed on the amount of household garbage dumped into various containers, will not know what refuse-rationing entails.

In Australia, the city council provides each household with one large garbage bin which is emptied only once a week.

These bins, referred to as "wheelie" or "garbo" bins, become treasured possessions. Each bin has a handle and two little wheels (hence the name wheelie bin).

Some families, besides cleaning their bins regularly with a choice of disinfectants flavoured with pine, wildflower, or eucalyptus, personalize their bins. A few paint on their house number. Others tie a bright fabric an old necktie at the handle. Painting bins with psychedelic or flora,art is also popular.

During hot summer days, en food waste decomposes rapidly during a week’s storage, the stink from the bin is accentuated maggots crawling all over the lid and the loud buzzing of bluebottle flies.

So you can imagine the family consternation when twice in ‘row the little miscreant nglected her chore. .Her excuses of "I forgot" and "Ooops, I was so tired" did not go down well. The family knew it now had the horrible task of wheedling garbage space from friendly neighbours; an act looked look sympathetically but not when it happens the second time in a row.

It did not help when the capacity of each bin is designed to store merely a week’s garbage ration a family, and each household guards its garbo space fiercely. Extra garbage can mean a trip down to the dump and money spent - a no-no in a frugal society.

The council also provides another bin with a bright yellow lid, for waste recycling. It has two compartments — for old newspapers and cardboard, and for glass, plastic and aluminum waste. These recycling bins are collected once a fortnight.

When it was first introduced, the second daughter placed this bin outside as told. To our horror, the recycling truck drove by without emptying it.

After a frantic call to the council, we found that she had placed the bin with its handle facing the wrong way. Hence, the truck’s automatic arm could not grip it for emptying. But the council was great about it. It sent the recycling truck in the afternoon just for us.

The council also designed a compost bin for the recycling of kitchen waste, with instructions on turning kitchen and food waste into garden compost for growing healthy plants.

Some wit there likened the modern kitchen to a refuse factory, with one bag for waste waste, one for compostable waste, one for recyclable waste, and still another for "others".

"Others" meant refuse which necessitated a trip to the dump. One loaded one’s car or trailer with excessive garden waste, old pipes, dead car batteries, mattresses and "others".

A trip to the dump, a landfill mine, is a family fun ride. You drive to your nearest dump, pay A$4 (S$4.20) at the entrance where you are directed by large signs to various sections for disposal of garden waste. newspapers and cardboxes, toxic waste (old batteries, plastics), and non-recyclables.

Twice yearly, the council has collection days, where trucks are sent to all suburbs for really bulky garbage. Then the whole neighbourhood becomes a hive of activity, examining one another’s garbage displayed outside, and salvaging what they think they will need.

And when that much-awaited mechanical squeal of brakes is heard, accompanied by the whooshing of a mechanical arm as another week-load of garbage disappears into the garbo truck, the family breathes with relief. It now has the means. again to generate and store more filth.

The writer is a sub-editor with The Sunday Times.

Source : The Straits Times 16th Apr 1995

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