In Yuanlin City, Changhua County, clothing recycling bins have recently been plagued by disorder. What was originally a facility meant to promote resource circulation has instead become a source of environmental blight in the urban area. The cleaning crew recently discovered through surveillance cameras that someone had even driven a small truck there specifically to rummage through the old clothes in the recycling bins on the street, pack them up, and take them away. Before leaving, they also unloaded several bags of garbage from the truck bed and piled them beside the bins. Other recycling bins had been stuffed with general waste and large discarded furniture, emitting odors under the sun and effectively becoming illegal dumps, leaving nearby residents deeply distressed.

The Yuanlin City cleaning crew pointed out that about 250 clothing recycling bins are currently managed citywide, intended to make it convenient for residents to recycle old clothes. However, some locations in remote areas or surveillance blind spots have become loopholes for people seeking to evade garbage disposal fees. Cleaning crew leader Zhang Daoqiang said that colleagues regularly inspect each recycling bin every week and try as much as possible not to let old clothes pile up outside the bins.

The Changhua County Environmental Protection Bureau explained that 15 townships and cities in the county have set up clothing recycling bins, and similar disorder is common in various places. It has required local cleaning crews to strengthen enforcement and at the same time track down offenders through license plates. Once identities are confirmed, fines will be issued under the Waste Disposal Act, with a maximum fine of NT$6,000.

For the old clothing recycling industry, this case highlights a common difficulty in managing the placement of recycling bins: if front-end recycling facilities lack manpower supervision and video surveillance, they are often repurposed as free garbage dumping points. This not only increases the cleaning crews' collection and transport costs, but also greatly reduces the quality of obtaining and sorting clean old clothes.

Source: Changhua Yuanlin clothing recycling bins found with dumped garbage; township office: will use surveillance cameras to track down offenders | Public Television Service News PNN · Originally published on 2026-09-14