Homes / Field notes

Garbage chute right in the kitchen

Garbage chute inside a Singapore kitchen

A conversation in a newly rented Singaporean apartment:
 — Look, there’s a garbage chute right in the kitchen! 
 — Ewwww. That’s terrible! We’re definitely not going to use it. Never!

A conversation a year later:
 — God! The kitchen garbage chute was a divine invention! It’s so convenient! 
 — You’re absolutely right!

There’s no smell coming from the garbage chute, as it’s cleaned regularly. Plus, there’s no vermin in there as it’s regularly fumigated. You can see the remnants of the tape on the lid, which the previous tenants used to seal it to keep the smoke in. We don’t bother with that nonsense, it’s pretty airtight as it is.

At the bottom, you see three bins for waste sorting. Our condo used to have three different bins for different types of waste, but for some reason, there’s only one left now. Sorting just didn’t take off for us.

Editorial comic cutaway of a Singapore condominium tower with a glowing garbage chute from kitchen to bin
Illustration: the shortcut from kitchen to bin.
Thanks for reading.Denya
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