Hello, I finally figured out how to post so I’m going to be spamming things into the categories to catch up. For conceptualizing waste, I look to my own room and think what would be considered dirty to others, versus for me it’s gold? The answer: taxidermy. I collect pelts, sealed specimens, bones, teeth, etc. All things I make sure they have died naturally so I am not disrespecting the body, and if they have died in a way, I don’t know how I will continue to treat them with respect. Most people look at taxidermy and dead things as a waste, meant to be left to be composed into the earth and never looked at again, some find it disturbing in general and think people like me are weird for collecting. In a span of a few years, I have collected various trinkets such as buffalo teeth earrings from an indigenous artist in Idaho and a matching necklace, a snapping turtle skull, a fisher cat pelt, a bat in resin, I believe a goat’s skull (not sure, face is a little busted, I got the fellow from an antique store), etc. I’ve been told that I collect trash and to leave bones and other gross things alone, but I don’t see these as trash, I see them as animals, and this is my way of ensuring at least a part of them knows that they are cared for. People aren’t judged when hunters keep prizes of their kills, so why am I judged for doing it in a more respectful manner? Sure, it takes up space in my room, sure I have a whole “bone shrine” at home, but there is a beauty to the bones, a reminder that life exists before and after we are gone.
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It’s funny to me that most people would consider taxidermy to be wasteful. I have always viewed it as a really cool practice that wasn’t, its hard for to wrap my head around an animal being waste because waste in my mind predominantly exists as a human made thing. I think it’s cool that you only collect animals who died in a natural way, the killing of animals can often times be glorified or overlooked in our culture.
A possible answer to your question of why hunters who keep prizes from their kills is seen as normal and people who practice taxidermy are seen as weird. Is that hunting is seen as normal, there is a goal of obtaining food after a hunt, theres a clear reason for it. Taxidermy on the other hand there is no end goal it is just a type of collection like collecting books or stones. It’s just not as common.