The Garbage War

Where does the trash go? Which countries are the Western world's waste being loaded onto? Who are our discarded electronic devices poisoning? How are oil companies using recycling as a Trojan horse to promote the overproduction of plastic? The trash war is raging unchecked today.

In this book, the fruit of field research on five continents—from Central America and Africa to the Aegean and Indonesia—Alexander Clapp searches for the places and people who receive finally our waste: toxic waste, electronic waste, scrap metal, plastics. He talks to workers and politicians, to scientists and garbage brokers, to shipowners and activists, exploring the unseen world of global waste trafficking and the monstrous financial interests that govern it.

"A dizzying tour of what exactly happens to the things we throw in the trash"

New York Times

"You'll never look at plastic bags the same way again"

Washington Post

"You're standing there with your mouth open"

The Economist

"A colonoscopy in book form, an exploration of the guts of the modern world"

The Atlantic

"I've read books that have brought me tears, nausea, excitement. I've never read a book that actually makes me feel the acrid taste of burning plastic in my throat."

The Sunday Times