Conceptualizing Waste

Using the different ways to conceptualize waste, Moore has presented many concepts that collectively give a wider view of what waste means and represents. The object that I chose is a compostable plastic cup that we get from the dining commons or the Kern on Hampshire campus. The first concept is matter out of place. The fact that the cuts say compostable on them makes it more confusing when throwing the cups away. Inside of the Kern Cafe there are trash containers that are labeled ‘Compostable’. This is really great while you’re sitting and drinking in the Kern but if you haven’t finished your drink and you want to leave, by the time you are done with it the compostable trash containers are nowhere in sight. A solution is to put a couple more of those trash cans around campus. I believe that people would be good at throwing away scraps of compostable things in them. Inside the dining commons there is also a compostable section but there is no recycling. The matter out of place in this case is that there is not a readily available place to dispose of them around campus. This also gets wrapped up in commodities. The school uses so many of these cups. It is easier to have these cups around than to have reusable ones because people take them out of the places they get them from. It also goes along with filth and risk. The bacteria in the cups days after use has grown on the cup and using it again might be dangerous or ‘gross’ in some people’s minds. Seeing these cups around campus makes me realize how much waste just this one very small campus makes and how much more UMass makes.