Nature and Science
October 2026
The Garbage Problem
These books focus on something we all encounter every day but to which we don’t give the thought it deserves: garbage, trash, waste, and our disposable economy. Read along as the authors of these selections reveal relevant insights about our garbage ecosystem and its impact on issues like sustainability, income inequality, and environmental health.
 
 
Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash by Alexander Clapp
Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash
by Alexander Clapp

A journalist based in Greece travels far and wide to uncover the filthy secrets of the garbage business. Alexander Clapp’s exposé reveals the eco-conscious “recycling” programs of wealthy northern hemisphere nations to be something a bit shadier: e-waste, plastics, and other disposables are often exported to countries in the Global South, where toxic waste poisons ecosystems and local labor is exploited.
Trash Talk: An Eye-Opening Exploration of Our Planet's Dirtiest Problem by Iris Gottlieb
Trash Talk: An Eye-Opening Exploration of Our Planet's Dirtiest Problem
by Iris Gottlieb

Writer and illustrator Iris Gottlieb shares their fascination with trash by examining our relationship with it throughout history. Today, the trash industry is designed to keep our waste isolated from wealthier segments of society, so that many people never have to give it much thought. Gottlieb contrasts this with pre-industrial civilizations, in which people lived in proximity to waste sites and repaired many of the items that we dispose of today. Packed with the author’s illustrations, Trash Talk will have readers looking at trash in an entirely new way.
Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World by Edward Humes
Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World
by Edward Humes

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes reveals the wasteful habits of modern life and offers numerous examples of communities pursuing more sustainable futures in this thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful book. In the follow-up to his 2012 book Garbology, Humes gives detailed breakdowns of multiple categories of waste and suggestions for converting our economy into a circular model that recycles more of what it produces.
Year of No Garbage: Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems, and One Woman's Trashy Journey to Zero Waste by Eve O. Schaub
Year of No Garbage: Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems, and One Woman's Trashy Journey...
by Eve O. Schaub

Memoirist Eve O. Schaub (Year of No Clutter) provides a detailed account of her family’s attempt to produce nothing that will end up in a landfill for an entire year. The fact that the year coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic added complicated wrinkles, like the necessity of medical waste. Schaub’s candid and occasionally funny book offers useful tips for reducing (if not eliminating) household waste alongside thoughtful explorations of consumerism and civic responsibility.
Contact your librarian for more great books!