It sits there in a heap on top of the plastic packaging

[GoodTaste]

[FONT=&quot]I OFTEN feel guilty in the kitchen. The problem isn’t my cooking; I live in France and pride myself on my culinary skills. The cause of my guilt is the amount of food I keep throwing away. A pile of leftover pasta, the uneaten salmon from my daughter’s plate, some expired tofu discovered at the back of the fridge – in it all goes. It sits there in a heap on top of the [/FONT]plastic packaging[FONT=&quot]in which most of the food came wrapped.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It might be a modest heap in my kitchen bin, but, worldwide, food waste is a problem of supersized proportions.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Source: New Scientist https://www.newscientist.com/articl...food-goes-to-waste-heres-how-to-stop-the-rot/

I don't quite understand the phrase "It sits there in a heap on top of the plastic packaging." "It" appears to be a garbage bin and now it sits there in a heap of something, It is in a heap and so the bin is outside the heap of waste.
The problem is that author says in following: "It might be a modest heap in my kitchen bin" - now the waste is in the bin.

So what does the phrase mean? Or exactly, what does "it sits there in a heap" mean? Is the heap of waste inside or outside the bin?[/FONT]

 

[teechar]

by using the word "heap", the author is trying to convey the idea that the quantity of leftover food which he/she (as well as most people) end up throwing away is not insubstantial.

 

[GoodTaste]

Okay. But you've not answered my question: the phrase "It sits there in a heap on top of ..." sounds as the garbage bin sits on a hill of waste. And then "It might be a modest heap in my kitchen bin" sounds that the hill is in the bin. Odd. I don't know how to understand it properly.

 

[Rover_KE]

The plastic packaging is in the bin and the waste food is in a heap on top of it.

 

[Tarheel]

I don't know how to understand it properly.

Hopefully, that's not true.

Keep in mind that the "it" in the text is the heap of garbage.

 

[GoodTaste]

The plastic packaging is in the bin and the waste food is in a heap on top of it.

That is, all the waste (including the packaging and food waste) is in the bin?

Keep in mind that the "it" in the text is the heap of garbage.

I am sorry you've made it more complicated rather than simplifying it:

See the context in the OP:
"in it all goes. It sits there in a heap on top of the plastic packaging":

The first "it" refers to the garbage bin while the second "it" refers to the garbage heap.

 

[emsr2d2]

The first and second "it" refer to the wasted food. There is no "it" in the piece that refers to the bin.

First, I throw the plastic packaging in the bin and then I throw the wasted food into the bin where it lands on top of the plastic packaging.

 

[GoodTaste]

The first and second "it" refer to the wasted food. There is no "it" in the piece that refers to the bin.

First, I throw the plastic packaging in the bin and then I throw the wasted food into the bin where it lands on top of the plastic packaging.

OK. But what is the subject of the sentence "in it all goes"? "All" or "it"?

 

[Tdol]

The first "it" refers to the garbage bin while the second "it" refers to the garbage heap.

You're wrong here. It refers to the food waste that sits on top of the empty plastic packaging- in both sentences.

 

[Tarheel]

OK. But what is the subject of the sentence "in it all goes"? "All" or "it"?

I had to refer to the OP. :-(

In "in it all goes" the word "it" refers to things (waste) mentioned in previous sentences.

 

[GoodTaste]

In "in it all goes" the word "it" refers to things (waste) mentioned in previous sentences.

Yes, the meaning of the "it" is unambiguous. But what is the subject? "All" seems to be the only option.

 

[Tarheel]

it all - all of it

The word "it" is the subject there.

 

[GoodTaste]

it all - all of it

The word "it" is the subject there.

But what is the object? I repeatedly read the phrase "in it all goes" - it seems to me putting "in" before the "subject" sounds odd unless it is not the subject.
Any one else supports "it" as the subject?

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, it is the subject. "In it all goes" is another way of saying "It all goes in".