When sorting through trash and recycling at home, I feel a responsibility to identify recyclable and non recyclable items and categorize them accordingly. In reality, I don’t know much about what happens to these waste items after they are picked up, and I don’t  know how effective recycling even is at mitigating environmental damage. I guess I assume that once the trash and recycling is picked up, the trash will find its way to a landfill and the recycling will be repurposed and “recycled” into new products. I’ve heard that in some places, even entire states, recycling may not be recycled at all. When I lived in AZ, my apartment had recycling bins, which I used, but I heard from multiple people that it all ended up being funneled into the same landfills. I never bothered to fact check this, but I guess I thought that the second the trash was picked up, the matter was out of my hands and it was no longer my responsibility. I couldn’t control where it went, so I didn’t bother thinking about it that much. It’s odd, because I guess I sort of assume- and I think a lot of other people do too- that doing a good job of sorting and categorizing household waste is a decent stand-in for reducing the amount of waste produced in the first place, and that by doing that, I am doing my part. I know logically that this is not the case.

I have never really thought twice about the nature of the work of the people who deal with our trash. Stating it like that, it doesn’t sound good, but I have hardly ever seen or interacted with the waste workers who have picked up my trash. I put the trash out, and then, at some point, it is picked up. The next week I do it again. It’s just a routine that is sort of second nature and I’ve never thought deeply about it. I imagine that it is difficult work, physically hard, smelly, potentially pretty draining. When I was a little kid I did a tour of an incinerator- I honestly can’t remember the circumstance- but I do remember it was very very loud. Working in a place like that, I’d imagine you’d need good ear protection in order to not do permanent damage to your hearing.  It doesn’t seem like glamourous work, although it is very important in our modern world, and these workers are part of the backbone of society. If nobody was doing these jobs, our world would probably be a complete mess. Even so, we need to focus as a society a lot more on reduction of waste, and that is all of our responsibility, along with companies and corporations that are producing our products and marketing them to us.

Today I rescued a metal thermos that someone had thrown away because the handle of it started to fall apart and the paint is chipping on the edges. I thought that it would be completely fine. I washed it out thoroughly with hot water and soap and will wash it one more time before I use it, just because I like things to be clean before I use them after trading hands. There is a chance that there was a perfectly normal reason for the person to get rid of the thermos. I think it is in good condition, it just doesn’t look brand new anymore. There are all sorts of things that are thrown away all the time that I feel like should be able to be given or taken by waste workers without any repercussions of any kind. There is a social structure of thinking that waste workers are less than because they deal with other people’s trash, but if we didn;t have these essential workers in our public works then our everyday lives would look very different. There is a great possibility that excess trash and waste would be thrown about on the streets of cities more than they already are. Along with the waste we would have piling up in our lives, our houses, and yards.

This past week in our dining hall, a sign indicating new things that could be incorporated into the food waste bin was posted. Based on my own experience and class discussions, this was not something students were made aware of prior to or when they were installed. This sparked many conversations with others about how people felt about the poor communication surrounding this change. Even before this act, I’ve heard many complaints about the limited number of composting bins around campus, specifically their lack of presence in the residences. If the campus wants to implement composting on campus, education about why and how we should do this is key. Going along with this, consistency across campus is also very important. I feel like a lot of people have a hard time properly disposing of things because they are not expecting the ways the waste should be organized and they are not used to it. I think when it comes to the physical act of disposing things, a fast speed is praised. When it comes to waste workers, both the workers and customers want the work done as quickly as possible. I feel this translates when we ourselves are disposing of something. For me, I know that no matter how long I spend in the dining hall, whether it is 20 minutes or 2 hours, I spend less than a minute disposing of my waste. If I am honest, I find myself irritated if there is a line in front of me to do this and find myself guilty of taking too long if there are individuals behind me. This contrast inspires me to be more present and patient during these moments. When it comes to responsibility, I think it first is in Hampshire’s hands to properly educate, communicate, and be consistent about waste management. Of course, too there does have to be a willingness to learn from the campus, so that’s when the people’s responsibility comes into play. Once disposed of, the waste workers now have the responsibility, and I would argue the right to take whatever they want from it. Quick side note: I am curious if Hampshire has any policy surrounding this! If I do have waste in my room, I do feel responsible for it for a longer duration of time, but in regard to food waste, I try to always place that in common waste bins, in an effort to disassociate myself. Overall, our readings this past week have encouraged me to educate myself more on composting opportunities on campus, in order to properly participate in them.

Well, I recently had a security guard throw away a light stick that I had for almost 6 years now. Sadly, I couldn’t retrieve it because it was during a concert I went to. I didn’t take a photo because I was holding up the line and it really made me sad because it was the very 1st concert light stick I bought. So I cannot really answer this blog that well. They threw it away because apparently it wasn’t “allowed” but when I stepped in, I saw other people with your group’s light sticks which made me so down.

The readings for the last week and a half connect issues of personal responsibility for environmental issues (like waste) with who does the work with dealing with it (you, waste haulers, sorters, etc). This week, choose a specific form of waste. (This could build off of one of your previous posts, or it could be something new.) When dealing with this waste, what do you consider to be your responsibility? What/where/when is the point where it becomes someone else’s responsibility? Do you believe this is an appropriate point to mark this division of labor, and why? Do you know who deals with this waste next, and what their work is like? If you do, briefly describe it, and if you don’t know, what do you imagine their work to be like?

Readings from this and last week:

Maniates, Michael F. “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World?” Global Environmental Politics 1, no. 3 (2001): 31–52.

Royte, Elizabeth. “Dark Angels of Detritus.” In Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash. First edition. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005, 19-31.

Nagle, Robin. “You are a San Man” and “We Eat Our Own.” In Picking up: On the Streets and behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City. First edition. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013, 105-112, 143-154.

Tupelo, Ethan. “Revaluing Capitalist Waste Through Worker Ownership.” In Debris of Progress: A Political Ethnography of Critical Infrastructure. University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2022.