TAIPEI (TVBS News)—The Taipei City Department of Environmental Protection (台北市環保局) has provided customized garbage collection services for 208 older residents since 2018. This initiative aims to ensure a clean living environment for elderly individuals who live alone and have mobility issues.
The department collaborates with the Department of Social Welfare (社會局) and Village Offices (里辦公處) to identify eligible citizens who are over 65, live alone, and have mobility challenges. Staff members, along with village and neighborhood chiefs (里鄰長), village clerks (里幹事), or social workers, visit these people to assess their needs.
This service allows older adults to place their garbage at their doorstep at a designated time, where sanitation workers assist with collection. The department emphasizes that this initiative maintains cleanliness and provides a means for sanitation workers to convey care and greetings to older adults, fostering a friendly and dignified living environment.
The department reminds eligible individuals to call the 1999 Citizen Hotline if they need this service. Hotline operators will provide contact information for sanitation teams in each district, or people can directly contact the Department of Environmental Protection sanitation teams.