When I think of the numerous items that I use on a daily basis that could be considered waste, the one that stands out to me is food. Mary Douglas’s conception of dirt helps us to understand food to be waste because it is a prime example of matter out of place. In our culture food has specific times when it is “clean” and when it is “dirty”. I think the term farm to table describes the time period where food is in the clean phase of its life. Even though most of our food comes from a place that should be considered dirty being literally the dirt/soil, it is still acceptable in society because it is in place. Once we are done with food on our plate, there are multiple ways for it to reach the dirty status. Being thrown in the trash, scraped into the sink, wiped off with a paper towel, or even falling on the floor, all makes it dirty in our minds. However if that food were to stay on our plates we would keep on nibbling on it and think of it as clean. In the trash it’s often only touching other food items, which moments before was fine to eat, but only due to its different location means it’s no longer good. In the dining commons here at Hampshire, I often look in the “food waste” can and think of how in my mind I know it’s just a bunch of uneaten food, but it evokes a feeling of disgust. I know that’s just my society’s opinions speaking through me. For example I would never think to eat the food in the takeout containers from the DC that’s been left out overnight, even though hours before I was eating the food which was clean to me. 

Leftovers are interesting because it’s just saving what would be food scraps from a meal. My grandmother is someone who will save any food item as long as it’s still good. A half eaten apple that’s turning brown “still good”, orange juice left in a glass “still good”, and something with a little mold on it just cut off the piece with it and it’s “still good”. Most of these situations I and many others would probably throw away or dump out the food/drink, and even though my grandmother lives in the same culture as I do she grew up in a different one. Her mother, my great grandmother, was a child of the Great Depression and passed the thinking of waste nothing down to her children. Even though we technically live in the same culture, it is interesting to see how it changes over time and to see that change through our view based on what waste is. 

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.

I sew, and nearly all of my projects leave me with scraps of fabric. I started saving them to use for other projects and to avoid creating excessive amounts of waste. Douglas’ definition of waste as matter out of place works to illustrate why fabric scraps are considered waste, but I think some of Moore’s conceptions of waste would do a better job of explaining it. By Douglas’ definition, fabric scraps are waste because they no longer fit in with the established pattern or system. While this definition of waste works in this case, some of Moore’s conceptions of waste do a better job of providing a more nuanced explanation. 

In Moore’s paper, the idea of waste as a resource is written about in regard to its relationship to society, however, in class, we also talked about it in more practical terms. This conception of waste is one of the primary ways I think about fabric scraps, as I encounter them often in my day-to-day life. I see them as both the unusable parts left over after a project, but also as potential materials for other projects.

Another one of Moore’s conceptions of waste that would work to describe fabric scrap is waste as an archive. Fabric scraps can be used to determine what kind of things the fabric was used for. It would likely be less useful for things made farther in the past as textiles don’t hold up very well over time, but they can certainly be used for things made in the recent past. Going through my box of fabric scraps is like becoming an archaeologist of my past projects. 

One of Moore’s conceptions of waste that doesn’t quite hold up when applied to fabric scraps is waste as filth. In this definition, waste is “imbued with and defined by the profound ability to disgust”. I don’t think fabric scraps provoke the kind of disgust implied in this definition, and while the quantity produced in clothing manufacturing could, I think that is different than being disgusted by the actual material.

Choose an object in your everyday life that is typically considered to be waste.  (Include a photo of it in your post.)  In what ways does Mary Douglas‘ conception of dirt help us to understand why this object is waste?  Are there other conceptions of waste (using Sarah Moore‘s examples) that are more useful in explaining why we understand this object to be waste?  (And/or, do any of these conceptions seem to not work for your waste object?)