02576cam a2200313 i 4500 939334823 TxAuBib 20230817120000.0 230707s2023||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 9780306827112 0306827115 TxAuBib rda Franklin-Wallis, Oliver. Wasteland : the secret world of waste and the urgent search for a cleaner future / Oliver Franklin-Wallis. First US edition. New York : Hachette Books, 2023. 392 pages. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-379) and index. 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? 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. 20230817. Refuse and refuse disposal. Waste disposal. Waste minimization. Toxins.