One thing I noticed during my stay in the countryside during CNY is that there doesn’t seem to be an organised way of collecting / disposing of trash like we have in the UK.

Basically, people just walk to the edge of their territory and throw the trash into the common land between properties, quite often this is a festering swamp (can’t wait to see how this smells in the summer!).

Or, it’s just hoofed over the wall at the bottom of the garden.

You can see from the photos, there’s a lot of trash, but, I didn’t see a single rat the entire time I was there though and I was surprised that the piles were not somewhat bigger.

Apparently the recycling guys do their rounds quite frequently and pick out anything recylable (an unenviable job if they have to wade into the swamp!) and the rest kind of composts down and I’m guessing is used as fertiliser.

The trash piles are burnt frequently too, every couple of days as far as I can see (I’d always wondered why there were so many smoke trails when you fly over villages).

You do see evidence of recycling here and there though, while driving round it was really common to see local farms with fences made from scrap mouldings.

Anyway, this is all a bit serious for Dingle Speaks, normal service will resume tomorrow!

(Or maybe Wednesday!)