Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash

by Edward Humes

Book Overview

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist takes readers on a surprising tour of America's biggest export, our most prodigious product, and our greatest legacy: our trash

The average American produces 102 tons of garbage across a lifetime and $50 billion in squandered riches are rolled to the curb each year. But our bins are just the starting point for a strange, impressive, mysterious, and costly journey that may also represent the greatest...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583335234
• ISBN13: 9781583335239
• Release Date: March 2013
• Publisher: Avery Publishing Group
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A must read for 2023

If you have any concerns at all about the Great Pacific Patch and how to become more aware, please read Garbology by Humes. Although this book was written a decade plus ago, the information is still relevant. My family already does reusable bags at the store but there is so much more to it. This book gave us insight and inspiration. I feel less hopeless, more focused and definitely more educated. Should be on the required reading list at every public school!

Great book!

This book is so educational while still being extremely readable. (I would even call it a very interesting read!) It covers history of garbage in ways you would never imagine, how American culture shifted to becoming dependent on and obsessed with trash, people who are out there making a difference in waste, and more. I absolutely LOVED this book! It opened my eyes to a lot of the world around me and gave me a better understanding of our struggles with waste in the US. It gives anecdotes that are great for conversations and citeable data for research papers! Some of the data is a little outdated now, but most of it is still very useful.