Trash at Brown: A Photo Essay

On any given day at Brown, you might notice a rather curious presence basically anywhere and everywhere on campus: trash. You can find it on the sidewalks on Brown Street, on windowsills, in flower patches, and even on top of trash bins. Really, anywhere that students walk is a possibility. Here are just a few trash treasures students have encountered at Brown:

Red Solo Cups

On weekend mornings, you can always find a handy-dandy red solo cup lying somewhere on campus. These are actually pretty convenient because, if you are brave enough, you can reuse one of these cups at any water faucet at Brown. Perfect for a hot day in spring!

Left-Behind Beverages

Maybe the iced coffee was watered down. Maybe the soda was just too sweet. Whatever the case, somebody found these beverages unworthy of a place within a trash bin. These are even better than the red solo cups, though. They already come with liquids inside of them! That means that you can drink watered down ice coffee or soda and then refill them with water.

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

Honestly, it’s hard to be upset at whoever left behind this ice cream bowl. Based on the outside of the bowl, you can tell they had a messy experience, so it only makes sense that their frustration would have escalated into the adamant refusal to throw away the offending ice cream bowl. Really, it doesn’t deserve to have its dirty appearance hidden away in some trash bin.

Dining Hall Food Containers

It’s hard to decipher exactly what the reasoning behind this is, other than the obvious fact that the trash bins are full. But if you think really hard, you realize the truth: Brown students are just trying to conserve air conditioning. Instead of going back inside Andrews to discard their trash in the other trash bins, students are clearly trying to prevent the air conditioning within Andrews from escaping to the outside world.

Miscellaneous Food Debris

You can find food debris anywhere and at anytime. It’s difficult to clean up splattered salads and mysterious red sauces, so it’s sometimes just easier to think to yourself, “Well, I hope the campus squirrels enjoy an evening of feasting.”

All of these trash treasures make me laugh, but I think I'd be much happier if I stopped finding them on my walks. So, please, pick up your trash and throw it away. It's the right thing to do.

Images via Elliana Reynolds '22