Moral Wastes: Food Waste in the City of Cambridge

Abstract

This study examines multiple perspectives about food waste in the context of curbside compost collection in the city of Cambridge in the fall of 2021. Using the concept of “moral waste”—a material or condition that deviates from one’s values and principles and compels one to correct it—it considers how the city residents and public employees understand the issue of food waste based on their principles and sense of responsibility. Based on interviews, observations on waste collection days, and monthly participation in the city’s Recycling Advisory Committee, the study investigates moral wastes of large, leaky, smelly garbage, throwing out food, compostable bags that break, mixing food waste with sewage, throwing out leftovers, and food waste in landfills and incinerators.