A journey into the compost bins shows how much we waste

Nauseating, rotten, smelly, interesting, different, slightly revolting and most definitely nasty. Those are just some of the words that I would use to describe my experience dumpster diving through the University Prep compost.

One day after school I went digging through the school compost to see how much our school  wastes, and what is being wasted. I looked through the compost after macaroni and cheese day, making the compost even more disgusting than before.

The variety of food that had been thrown out ranged from a few Egg McMuffins to untouched bowls of caesar or fruit salad. I started with the compost in the Upper Commons near the science offices. The compost was filled with bowls upon bowls filled with macaroni and cheese. It stuck in a large block, dried from being left in the opened compost. It was truly sickening to touch and look at.

Also in this bag of compost I came across tons of hair. In many of the bowls, specifically towards the bottom, strands of hair laid atop the macaroni and cheese. Although looking at the hair was disgusting enough, to have to touch it when prowling through macaroni and cheese bowls made me want to hurl.

The orange and banana peels were turning into a dark brown and the darkened peels already had the stench of a rotting corpse. There were groups of wheat bread crust and destroyed bagels. Other than the macaroni and cheese, the most common item I found was not a food but a liquid. Not just any regular liquid, such as water or bubbly soda. This liquid was light brown, sloshed around in a small carton. Yes, chocolate milk. I must have found at least seven or eight cartons of half-finished chocolate milk in just one bin.

On many occasions the milk had spilt over into other items such as pizza crust and sandwiches, turning the breads into a soggy, moist texture. When I attempted to pick it up, the sandwich ciabatta bread squished at the slightest pressure of my hand. The meat had fallen to the side and appeared to be half ripped out. The turkey in particular was quite slimy, to the point that it slipped through my hands. The cheese smell was quite potent.

The combination of damp bread, slightly left-out meat and chocolate milk was almost too much to handle without having a gag reaction. The smells and feeling of the compost made me nauseous just looking at it.

I was also surprised to find that there were only a few occasions where I saw something that was clearly not supposed to be in the compost. Items such as plastic, or silverware. Other than looking at what was in the compost bins, another striking thing was how much there was. I looked through three of the four bins in the Commons Cafe, There were approximately five pounds in. Meaning University Prep composts a little bit over six and a half pounds a day.

To say the least I left from my venture into the compost feeling that I no longer needed what is normally a regular afternoon snack for me.

By: Melissa Funes