3 books about waste for your reading list
Learning why wasting less is so important can be overwhelming—and actually doing it can seem impossible. These three books will help! They deliver deep information that’s easy to take in. Plus, even with all the problems they highlight, each book delivers a sense of hope for a more sustainable future as well as actions to take.
We’ve provided links for folks who want to buy and share these reads as well as links to borrow ebook versions from your local library.
If you want to see the big picture
Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World
By Edward Humes
We’re proud that Ridwell and our community are highlighted in the first chapter of this new book from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Edward Humes. Total Garbage shines a light on the absurdity of the systems that allowed plastic waste to become public enemy number one and how wasting less is our greatest untapped economic, environmental, health, and quality-of-life opportunity. It illustrates practical ways to make meaningful changes as individuals and communities.
Excerpt:
Getting started on the way back from total garbage doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It doesn’t mean everyone has to rush out to buy a $50,000 electric car most of us can’t afford. It’s not about everyone returning to the Stone Age, either, or going all granola and Birkenstocks, or sacrificing comfort and living off the grid. The perverse silver lining of our addiction to wastefulness is that it is literally everywhere, which means myriad opportunities are all around us to embrace low- or no-cost solutions to waste.
If you wonder where trash ends up
Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future
By Oliver Franklin-Wallis
What really happens to the things we throw away? That’s what investigative journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis set out to discover in the project that became Wasteland. In the book, he journeys through the hidden multi-billion dollar waste industry and shares a blueprint for creating a healthier, more sustainable system.
Excerpt:
You drink a Coca-Cola, throw the bottle in the bin, put the bin out on collection day, and forget about it—but it doesn’t disappear. From the moment the rubbish truck pulls away, your castoffs become the property of the waste industry, a vast global enterprise determined to extract the last penny of value from what remains.
If you’re curious about reuse
Seconhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale
By Adam Minter
Born into a family of scrap dealers, Adam Minter started his writing career with investigative explorations of China’s recycling industry that later became his debut book, Junkyard Planet. In Secondhand, he takes us on an unexpected adventure into the often-hidden, multibillion-dollar industry of reuse to answer one question: How can we build a sustainable future free of excess stuff?
Excerpt:
Like most Americans, I have done my own share of accumulating over the years. Researching this book helped me let go of some—but not all—of it. I can’t promise readers of this book that they’ll have a similar experience. But they will find a surprising world where what’s old becomes new again, over and over, and the desire to profit from castoffs creates innovation and livelihoods—all over the world at all hours of the day. Finding it is a treasure hunt, one that anyone can join.
Want more book recommendations? Check out our cofounders’ picks >
