Human Practices

The primary purpose of conducting the street interview was to assess public familiarity with the concept of Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) and to raise awareness about its potential as a solution to the global trash crisis. Our aim was to highlight the urgent need to address the growing waste problem and introduce SRF as an innovative approach to managing it. We chose night market visitors as our target audience, as this demographic primarily consists of students, tourists, and parents—a diverse and representative group.

However, conducting interviews in this setting came with challenges. Many Taiwanese people are often hesitant to participate in interviews, expressing discomfort or uncertainty about the process. Despite this, we remained optimistic, knowing that some extroverted individuals would be open to engaging with us. Our questions included straightforward inquiries like, “Have you ever heard of SRF?” and more interactive, open-ended ones such as, “Would you like to guess what it is?” To make the experience more engaging, we incorporated activities like placing stickers on a yes/no board to visualize the level of awareness about SRF among the participants.

Surprisingly, none of the respondents in the night market were familiar with SRF, leading us to conclude that public awareness of this concept is severely lacking in Taiwan. This finding contrasts with our earlier interview with an SRF company representative, who emphasized the importance of introducing such concepts to individuals at a young age. In European countries, for example, recycling and waste management education is integrated into early education, fostering a strong sense of responsibility toward environmental sustainability. Our findings underscored the need for similar educational initiatives in Taiwan to bridge this gap in awareness and consciousness about SRF and recycling practices.