Some of Taiwan’s most revealing quirks are hidden in plain sight — in how rubbish is collected, where you find a toilet, and what happens to your receipts.

Garbage Truck Music

For decades, yellow rubbish trucks have toured Taiwan’s streets playing tinkling renditions of Beethoven’s Für Elise or Bądarzewska-Baranowska’s A Maiden’s Prayer to alert residents that it is time to bring their waste downstairs. Rather than leaving bags at the kerb, residents hand-deliver sorted rubbish, food waste, and recycling directly to the truck — a system introduced in the 1960s that turned a mundane chore into a nightly neighbourhood ritual. For the elderly in particular, the wait for the truck has become a social occasion, with many arriving early to chat with neighbours at the collection point. Check garbage truck music in Taiwan on YouTube.

Free Public Toilets

Public toilets in Taiwan are consistently free of charge and are generally clean, well-maintained, and plentiful — in MRT stations, parks, scenic areas, and government buildings. This is conspicuous to visitors arriving from parts of Europe or elsewhere in Asia where pay toilets are common. Convenience stores (open 24 hours, found approximately every hundred metres in urban areas) also have customer toilets freely available. If you cannot find a dedicated public facility, the nearest 7-Eleven or FamilyMart is a reliable fallback.

Squat Toilets

Squat toilets remain common in Taiwan’s public bathrooms — particularly in older buildings, rural areas, and outdoor spaces — though most facilities offer both options, with icons on stall doors indicating which type is inside. Their prevalence traces back to the Japanese colonial period, when squat toilets were standard across public infrastructure. If you have never used one before, it is worth learning the technique beforehand; and while you are reading the signs, note that many bathrooms in Taiwan also ask you to bin used toilet paper rather than flush it.

Few Public Rubbish Bins

Paradoxically for a society that is notably clean in its public spaces, Taiwan has very few public litter bins on its streets — far fewer than most European or North American cities. This is intentional: the rubbish-truck system requires residents to sort and deliver waste directly, so there is little infrastructure for discarding things on the go. Visitors should pocket their rubbish and bring it to the hotel. The relative cleanliness of public spaces despite the scarcity of bins is a testament to civic culture rather than infrastructure. However, you still can find rubbish bins at MRT stations, convenience stores, night markets, etc.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine （中醫） is fully integrated into Taiwan’s national health insurance system and practised alongside Western medicine rather than as an alternative to it. TCM clinics are ubiquitous — in urban neighbourhoods you will typically find one within a short walk — and it is entirely normal for a Taiwanese person to consult a TCM practitioner for chronic conditions, seasonal health maintenance, and post-injury recovery while also seeing a Western-trained doctor for acute illness. Herbal dispensaries, often identifiable by their distinctive dried-ingredient smell and rows of wooden drawers, are a common sight in older commercial districts.

The Receipt Lottery

Every purchase at a registered business in Taiwan generates a 統一發票 — a standardised receipt printed with an eight-digit lottery number. Every two months, the Ministry of Finance draws winning numbers, with prizes ranging from NT$200 for matching the last three digits up to NT$10 million for a full eight-digit match. The system was introduced in 1951 to combat tax evasion, giving consumers a financial incentive to demand legal receipts from merchants. Visitors can participate: keep your receipts, check the numbers after the draw, and redeem smaller prizes at any convenience store. Many Taiwanese people leave unchecked receipts in a box near the till as a small act of charity to shop staff.