Many things are structured around distancing us from waste. One example I can think of is sanitary disposal boxes in the  public bathroom.  After one has used a sanitary napkin  and needs to dispose of it they are able to put it in a little brown paper bag inside the metal waste receptacle in the bathroom stall. Keeps the biological waste away from other people that have to use the stall and makes it more discreet as they are able to not throw it away outside of the individual stall which can sometimes be embarrassing for some people.  In many men’s bathrooms those  receptacles aren’t there  which can create some frustration for those who need to use those bathrooms but menstruate.  These receptacles provide a place to dispose of waste that is in general in society seen as shameful or embarrassing. where a lot of people will be very embarrassed if their pad rapper crinkles while they’re trying to unwrap it and it’s a shame that periods and menstruation is so Vilified when it’s a natural biological process that nearly half the population has.

Storage closets. There’s a closet behind the lecture hall in FPH filled with books, old newspapers, tapes, and electronics. A layer of dust covers everything. Closets are made to hide what is inside them. Of course closets usually hold things that aren’t considered waste but they still work to supporate. All this stuff, because it’s been put in an accessible place, because no one knows about it, because it’s behind unmarked doors, has sorta become waste. No one uses it, it rots in cardboard boxes, it gathers dust. And it is only allowed to exist in this state because it is kept out of sight. Distance, even on this small scale of a closet and its forgotten contents, is a work of distance.

Distance is a tool used by the oppressor. That’s why they work so hard to maintain it. The people with power have separated themselves from the rest of the world. The pain created by the same systems they benefit from has been made invisible to them. Distance makes the whole system possible. We get closer and closer to waste the more we are considered waste ourselves within the hierarchy. 

For this blog post I am choosing Target in the Hadley Mall. Target is a store that I hope everyone is familiar with, and they choose to distance themselves from waste as much as possible. Have you ever thought about all the packaging waste and the plastics that are thrown out with products all coming from one store. They don’t want you to think too hard about all the plastic sheetings, and the tear away strips and so much more that is on food, toys, and everything else that is packaged. They use paper bags which is a subtle way to nod towards being Green, yet they are covered in plastic in the rest of the store. Have you ever bought a Disney Doorables, the thing is filled with plastic. The box is made of tearaway cardboard that is covered in a thin sheet of plastic. Inside the cardboard there is a plastic tray filled with 7-9 plastic baggies, containing the toys. That is an obscene amount of waste for 7 tiny toys and yet no one thinks about it because Target has distanced themselves from waste. 

The place that I chose is the common room in my hall. The common room is a very social space in my hall and is used by everyone and their guests. In the common room is also where the main trash and recycling bins are. While the waste bins are not the main focus of the room, thinking about this prompt, I have noticed that the room is set up around the bins. There are two larger chairs and a couch in the common room, the set up of the furniture is mostly centered around the corner of the room by the windows. I have noticed that the setup of the room right now is as far as it can be from the trash. The use of the room is either for social activities or to use the trash. The flow of the room is affected by the placement of the waste bins in the room. There is also the aspect of distance from the bins, the room is set up so that the social circle of the room is facing away from the bins. This is interesting to me because this is not something that I would usually think about when I am sitting in a space. With topics like this from class, it is now hard to not notice how we unconsciously set up our spaces around waste.

The place I chose on campus was the Hitchcock Center for the Environment. According to the Hitchcock website it is the 23rd living building in the world and 4th in Massachusetts. Now many of us probably know what a living building is as we have one directly in the middle of our campus, but it is a self sufficient building. It creates its own water, energy and light among many other things. I could keep talking about that part but that is not my main focus. The building is just the surface level, the spark needed for a conversation. What’s so great about that being this building is that it is a nature center that has classes for kids from a wide range of ages. Now the classes that I worked with were always of the younger age (6-7 year olds usually) and part of the afterschool program so a curriculum was not something we had. Instead they were more or less set free in the outdoor areas or we went on walks around campus.  With the help of the living building and the use of mainly recycled materials used for crafts there is a constant conversation of the planet and waste. Something that I find adults often struggle to discuss openly. Instead Hitchcock Center created a safe space for all ages to have that conversation. It’s not judged or hidden but in your face and openly discussed.

A place I saw that had Distancing Infrastructure was a sort of local restaurant called bubs Barbecue, A traditional BBQ place from 1979 and still had Trinkets and news clippings from that time. What showed the Distancing Infrastructure was the Trash being towards the side exit and is only noticable when you are leaving from the Side entrance/exit. The design of this is intentional as it is far away from the tables and farthest away from the food being served, This design is shared by many restaurants and is similar how the Bathrooms are treated as well. Most of this is designed this way for fear of contamination as I trained in culinary school in Cambridge and learned all about it. The Distancing Isolates the waste product towards the exit for easy disposability whether at the back, front or side entrance/exit. Distancing also effects contaminated products like food that has touched a floor or fallen off a chopping board. Contamination drives most of the way waste is treated in restaurants because if they don’t the restaurant could be shut down.

A place around campus that I feel as if it hold a foundation of waste is the Kern. With the Kern being a zero emission building there is a very interesting aspect of the understanding of the grounds. Last year while taking a tour of the kern building I learned about the different aspects of the building that make it so special and unique. The composting toilets are a very special part of the building. I feel as if it gives the building a very cool personality. There is character in it. I personally feel like the waste that humans make comes in so many forms that we exclude liking most of them when it comes to social norms. The composting toilets go through cycles of getting cleans and turned to compost and the grey water from the building gets filtered many times. That grey water once filtered got back into watering the plants in and around the Kern building. The kern holds many impressive fleats of engineering that makes it such a cool space to be in and around. Its a great place on campus.

Inside the Airport Lounge, there is a trash bin and a recycling bin right by the door that leads you to The Bridge.  I feel the trash’s positioning is connected to the idea of waste distancing. The placement of it by a door is common in most places (ex. classrooms). Harkening back to the first day of this course, where a pile of trash was in the center of the room, some more thoughts are coming to mind. While we discussed that seeing trash out in the open brought up many feelings, another thing to consider is how we weren’t seeing trash in its “proper place” within the classroom space, say being by the door. The arrangement of trash by a door allows for people to throw things away as they leave a space, a literal way of leaving the waste behind, and not taking it into another. But, once again this theme of disconnection and distancing. Something I find funny is that practically every time I am in the Airport Lounge, I hear someone ask where the trash is. This makes me wonder if a more centralized location would be beneficial in any way. Overall, this week’s readings and discussions made me think about how frequently the idea of distance is associated with waste, and whether there are ways to challenge this, while still offering convenient waste sites. 

I think the dining commons are a good example of a place on campus where waste is ushered out of site and concealed. The work of both the cooks and the dishwashers is hidden from view, and the experience of the students eating there is that they get their plate of food, and then drop their plate off with all the others when they leave. I know from experience working in restaurants that a lot of food ends up getting thrown out before it is even served. If, at the end of the meal, some food was left unserved, they may not serve it at another meal but instead throw it out. I don’t know if this happens at Hampshire (because it is usually done discreetly), but I assume that it might. In my experiences working in food service, uneaten food would be stored in a walk in fridge for a couple of days, and, after a certain amount of time passes, would be thrown in the trash, which is taken to the dumpster at the end of the night. This process is not visible to anyone but the food service workers, and is not openly talked about because of the negative associations with wasted food. Also, the food waste and messes left by students after they have eaten are the responsibility of the dishwashers, who do their work in a private room out of view of the students who are eating there. We don’t have to think about the nastiness of their job or make an effort to streamline their process by cleaning our plates as best we can ourselves, or even, in some cases, categorizing our eating utensils when we drop them off to be washed. The extent of the wasted food is unknown to students (myself included), because it is disposed of discreetly and picked up by waste workers later on.