Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters , reviewed

We look at this topical, relevant and important book by Oliver Franklin-Wallis. See more about Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters here.

Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, reviewed

This is a big, complex topic, but one that is directly relevant to all of us. We may produce more or less waste than others, and, depending where you live in the world this will vary by many kilos, from the US, seemingly the largest producers of waste per capita, to those in less developed countries, living in deep poverty. However, wherever we are, each day, we still use products, we eat, we consume goods, open packaging, and, when necessary, have to dispose of broken or no longer wanted goods.

The author, Oliver Franklin-Wallis, aims to take us on a journey, by trying to better understand where all this waste goes, and also to try and minimise his own impact too. Each chapter reflects this journey, his growing awareness, and the realisation that there are some difficult questions and in many areas, no easy answers to the problems we have created.

In poorer parts of the world, such as Ghana, and India there are often deeply toxic sludge waste areas, created by waste sent there from our own, western, richer, European and North American countries. Waste is a a global issues. One that richer countries have tried to export away, but the reality is that, aided by corruption and incompetence we have only moved it out of sight, rather than dealt with it.

Franklin-Wallis does a good, eye opening job of explaining these flows, and the types of waste and the problems they bring. This is not a book able to offer many solutions but it does an excellent job of raising awareness and at least trying to make us personally proactive and better informed. In his final chapter he does raise the important point that, as well as personal waste, we barely even have a clue about how much waste is generated by industry. This is a super important discussion because, to tackle this problem we need to first understand the size and nature of it. This book is a vital contribution to the conversation about humanity, sustainability, and living within our means. Read it asap.

See more about the author here.

Oliver Franklin-Wallis is an award-winning magazine journalist, whose writing has appeared in WIRED (where he is a contributing editor), British GQ, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, 1843, and many other publications.

He has written about art fraudsters and deep-sea explorers, reported from Liberia on the ebola virus, chronicled the fractious race to build a hyperloop, and profiled countless startup founders, scientists, film directors and celebrities.

His first book, Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, And Why It Matters, is available for order now.

For freelance writing and editing commissions, radio and TV appearances, or public speaking opportunities, you can email him here.

More about the book

When we throw things ‘away’, what does that actually mean? Where does it go, and who deals with it when it gets there? In Wasteland, award-winning journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on an eye-opening journey through the global waste industry. From the mountainous landfills of New Delhi to Britain’s overflowing sewers, from hollowed-out mining towns in the USA to Ghana’s flooded second-hand markets, we meet the people on the frontline of our waste crisis – both those being exploited, and those determined to make a difference. On the way, we discover the corporate greenwashing that started the recycling movement; the dark truth behind our second-hand donations; and come face to face with the 10,000-year legacy of our nuclear waste.

Both shocking and hopeful, Wasteland is the timely and ultimately human story at the heart of an urgent global issue.

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