(FWA 2026/09/17) For expats living in Taiwan, knowing the garbage truck schedule and How to Check Garbage Truck Schedule online is essential for daily life. This comprehensive guide covers everything from basic rules and recycling days to navigating the city’s tracking app, properly sorting food waste, and scheduling oversized garbage disposal with your local cleaning squad.
I. General Rules & Holiday Collection Schedule
In Taichung, regular along-the-street garbage collection is suspended on specific national holidays. On these days, the city switches to fixed-point and fixed-time collection services.
Suspended Street Collection Days (2026): Jan 1 (New Year’s Day), Feb 17 (Lunar New Year Day 1), Feb 19 (Lunar New Year Day 3), Feb 28 (Peace Memorial Day), Apr 4 (Children’s Day), May 1 (Labor Day), Jun 19 (Dragon Boat Festival), Sep 25 (Mid-Autumn Festival), Sep 28 (Teachers’ Day), Oct 10 (National Day), and Dec 25 (Constitution Day).
II. Recycling Categories and Schedule
To improve recycling efficiency and ensure proper processing at domestic paper mills, Taichung City enforces separated recycling days for different materials. Please clear all contents from containers before recycling.
Mondays & Thursdays: (East, South, Central, West, Beitun, and Nantun Districts).
Mondays, Tuesdays & Thursdays: (North and Xitun Districts).
Saturdays: All recyclable materials are collected in all districts.
Crucial Sorting Rule: You must separate paper (excluding paper containers) from paper containers. You must also separate glass containers from other types of containers (plastic, metal).
III. Simple Guide for Taichung Garbage Collection Inquiry System
If you are unsure when the truck will arrive, use the official website or the Taichung Garbage Truck APP (available on iOS and Android).
Step 1: Open the website (https://cleaner.epb.taichung.gov.tw/index.aspx) or the app. Click on the “Real-time Collection Point Search” icon at the top right.
Step 2: Allow location access permissions. The map will display your current location as a little blue figure and mark nearby garbage truck collection points. The estimated arrival time will be indicated right next to the points.
Step 3: Click on any collection point symbol on the map to display detailed information, including the truck’s license plate, address, collection method, recycling days, and scheduled time.
Step 4: In the detailed info box, click on “Vehicle Location”. If the garbage truck is currently on its route collecting garbage, its real-time location will be displayed on the map.
Step 5: You can click the settings option in the bottom right corner to adjust the map’s display range (100 meters, 300 meters, or 500 meters) or clear your location data.
Step 6: For garbage truck information on national holidays, click the calendar icon in the top right corner for the “National Holiday Fixed Point Schedule”.
Step 7: A drop-down menu will appear. Select your district, click “Search”, and the fixed-point schedule and location information for that holiday will be displayed.
IV. Food Waste Categories (Raw vs. Cooked)
Taichung City strictly separates food waste. Before taking out the trash, please drain all water. Do not throw plastic bags, tissues, bamboo chopsticks, toothpicks, or Chinese medicine bags into the food waste buckets.
Cooked Food Waste (Pig Feed): Leftovers, canned foods, and expired edible foods. Note: Due to African Swine Fever prevention, DO NOT throw raw pork, pork organs, or related products into the food waste bucket.
Raw Food Waste (Anaerobic Fermentation at Waipu Eco Park): Uncooked or rotten vegetables, fruit peels, tea leaves, coffee grounds, and soybean grounds. Do not mix this with cooked food waste.
General Waste (NOT Food Waste): Raw meat, bones, hard fruit shells (coconut, durian), pits, bamboo shoots, corn cobs, eggshells, seafood shells, and long fibers (sugarcane peels, tea/coffee bags). These must go into the regular garbage.
V. Oversized Furniture and Appliances (Scheduled Collection)
Oversized items (large appliances, usable furniture) cannot be thrown directly into garbage trucks. You must contact your local district cleaning squad to apply for a scheduled pick-up.
Apply online or call your district’s cleaning squad (see the table below).
If the squad does not contact you within 3 days to confirm a time, please call them to follow up.
On the scheduled date, you must move the items to your front door yourself. Please prepare your water bill (which includes the waste clearance fee) for verification.
