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Wasteland : the secret world of waste and the urgent search for a cleaner future / Oliver Franklin-Wallis.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Hachette Books, [2023]Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First US editionDescription: 392 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780306827112
  • 0306827115
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction: the tipping floor -- Dirty -- The mountain ; Save scrap for victory! ; The world's garbage can ; Up in smoke ; Used ; Foul -- The cure for cholera ; A third of everything ; Breakdown ; Toxic -- Unholy water ; Control, delete ; The dam breaks ; Hazard ; Epilogue: Precious.
Summary: Outlining the inequitable ways in which the world disposes of trash and sharing the stories of those affected, the author recounts his time climbing mountains of refuse with "waste pickers," who make a living gathering recyclables from a Delhi landfill, and describes the work of an environmental scientist who oversees the site of a former Oklahoma town abandoned after toxic byproducts from nearby mines made it uninhabitable. Franklin-Wallis pays keen attention to how waste disposal intersects with social justice, as when he discusses how legal loopholes incentivize rich countries to export their recyclables to the global south, where they end up leaching chemicals from landfills, a practice known as "toxic colonialism." A fierce critic of greenwashing, the author suggests that "compostable plastics" are mostly bunk and describes how some grocery stores incinerate the recyclables they collect from customers. Franklin-Wallis achieves the difficult feat of making an ostensibly mundane topic feel urgent, and the compassionate profiles effectively humanize a problem that's massive in scope. Additionally, his proposed solutions are well considered, including suggestions to "make greenwashing illegal" and hold companies responsible for the waste they produce, no matter where it ends up. It's a vital call to action.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 363.728 F834 Available 33111011301351
Adult Book Adult Book Northport Library NonFiction 363.728 F834 Available 33111009479045
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY THE NEW YORKER, THE GUARDIAN, and KIRKUS REVIEWS



An award-winning investigative journalist takes a deep dive into the global waste crisis, exposing the hidden world that enables our modern economy -- and finds out the dirty truth behind a simple question: what really happens to what we throw away?



In Wasteland , journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on a shocking journey inside the waste industry--the secretive multi-billion dollar world that underpins the modern economy, quietly profiting from what we leave behind. In India, he meets the waste-pickers on the front line of the plastic crisis. In the UK, he journeys down sewers to confront our oldest--and newest--waste crisis, and comes face-to-face with nuclear waste. In Ghana, he follows the after-life of our technology and explores the global export network that results in goodwill donations clogging African landfills. From an incinerator to an Oklahoma ghost-town, Franklin-Wallis travels in search of the people and companies that really handle waste--and on the way, meets the innovators and campaigners pushing for a cleaner and less wasteful future.



With this mesmerizing, thought-provoking, and occasionally terrifying investigation, Oliver Franklin-Wallis tells a new story of humanity based on what we leave behind, and along the way, he shares a blueprint for building a healthier, more sustainable world--before we're all buried in trash.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-379) and index.

"First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2023"--Colophon page.

Outlining the inequitable ways in which the world disposes of trash and sharing the stories of those affected, the author recounts his time climbing mountains of refuse with "waste pickers," who make a living gathering recyclables from a Delhi landfill, and describes the work of an environmental scientist who oversees the site of a former Oklahoma town abandoned after toxic byproducts from nearby mines made it uninhabitable. Franklin-Wallis pays keen attention to how waste disposal intersects with social justice, as when he discusses how legal loopholes incentivize rich countries to export their recyclables to the global south, where they end up leaching chemicals from landfills, a practice known as "toxic colonialism." A fierce critic of greenwashing, the author suggests that "compostable plastics" are mostly bunk and describes how some grocery stores incinerate the recyclables they collect from customers. Franklin-Wallis achieves the difficult feat of making an ostensibly mundane topic feel urgent, and the compassionate profiles effectively humanize a problem that's massive in scope. Additionally, his proposed solutions are well considered, including suggestions to "make greenwashing illegal" and hold companies responsible for the waste they produce, no matter where it ends up. It's a vital call to action.

Introduction: the tipping floor -- Dirty -- The mountain ; Save scrap for victory! ; The world's garbage can ; Up in smoke ; Used ; Foul -- The cure for cholera ; A third of everything ; Breakdown ; Toxic -- Unholy water ; Control, delete ; The dam breaks ; Hazard ; Epilogue: Precious.

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