Yesterday, I arrived at the grocery store just in time for a show. I pulled up as an employee was wheeling some trash and food (two different things) out to the dumpster.
After tossing the clear bags of trash, the employee turned to the four watermelons in the cart. I sat in my car dumbfounded (and wishing I had my camera or camcorder or had a video phone) as he proceeded to chuck the round watermelons into the blue dumpster. Argh.
Here’s the thing, though: He didn’t just toss them, he whipped them. It was like watching someone work out with a medicine ball. The guy seemed to enjoy watching them explode against the back wall of the dumpster. Double argh.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the feeling. I’ve done the same with late November jack-o’-lanterns. I even remember doing it once or twice when I had to throw away produce while working at a supermarket.
But I kept wondering why these watermelons had gone from food to dumpster fodder. I didn’t get a close enough look at them–pre-bashing–to find out, but I’d bet a week’s worth of groceries that I would have eaten one of those melons. In the end, though, they were just a casualty of our food system.
Be that as it may, the store could at least compost! Or use the watermelons to make something as simple as the above carving.
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