The Merrill dumpsters are going to be the focus of my blog post today. I am not exactly sure how these operate, but I would guess they are the final destination for all the waste produced from the Merrill common rooms/kitchens, the smaller trash/recycling cans outside in the front, waste from the bathrooms, and students rooms. Definitely a core reason my dorm stays as clean as it is. Their location I believe is very specific for quick disposal and keeping it hidden. There are two ways for one to see the trash and recycling dumpsters, one is that they are doing laundry in the basement or if they walk to the back of Merril, which for the most part is very unlikely unless your maintenance. This location I feel is very much designed to be kept out of sight and out of mind, they are also surrounded on three sides by a wooden and metal fence, which further cements the idea of wanting them to be hidden from people. In addition there is a road that goes right up to it, designed for efficient disposal. I am not sure whether that road was always there for taking our waste away, but it does go right up to it, giving the impression that it was made for that. In addition to it being out of sight of the majority of the Hampshire population it is the closest they can have it to the woods, a place that we don’t consider to be our living space. We don’t bat an eye with them being in such a secluded location, but it would be much different if we put them in front of Merrill by the entrance where the smaller trash and recycling are currently. Even if it did not smell, people would still be questioning why it is placed there. However I do believe the current placement of the dumpsters is symbolic of what we as a society view waste as. Being pushed to the sidelines and further being hidden, kept just far enough away from our living space, but not really that far. Kind of like how there are dumps not far outside of towns/cities and most people would not know. Either because it’s blocked by barriers like trees or it looks like a hill covered in grass (I can think of several in Massachusetts that I didn’t know were dumps).
