Wasteland

The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future

By: Oliver Franklin-Wallis

Narrated by: Chris Harper

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?

In Wasteland, journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on a shocking journey inside the waste industry—the secretive multi-billion dollar world that underpins the modern economy, quietly profiting from what we leave behind. In India, he meets the waste-pickers on the front line of the plastic crisis. In the UK, he journeys down sewers to confront our oldest—and newest—waste crisis, and comes face-to-face with nuclear waste. In Ghana, he follows the after-life of our technology and explores the global export network that results in goodwill donations clogging African landfills. From an incinerator to an Oklahoma ghost-town, Franklin-Wallis travels in search of the people and companies that really handle waste—and on the way, meets the innovators and campaigners pushing for a cleaner and less wasteful future.

With this mesmerizing, thought-provoking, and occasionally terrifying investigation, Oliver Franklin-Wallis tells a new story of humanity based on what we leave behind, and along the way, he shares a blueprint for building a healthier, more sustainable world—before we’re all buried in trash.

©2023 Oliver Franklin-Wallis (P)2023 Hachette Books

Critic reviews

“With his investigative chops and contagious curiosity, Oliver Franklin-Wallis has cracked wide a dozen hidden, jaw-dropping worlds. … Yet despite its grim revelations, the book offers hope—for we can’t begin to make things right until we understand the nuanced realities of what is wrong. Wasteland is compelling, smart, fair, often funny, always interesting, and just f*ing important. Truly, it’s the most impressive nonfiction I’ve read in quite some time.”—Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Fuzz

“Sometimes it seems as if our main role as humans is to enjoy shiny things for a little while until they become discarded things. This is a fascinating and comprehensive tour of the second half of that equation–the tossed-out usually gets a thousandth the attention of the not-yet-purchased, but Oliver Franklin-Wallis does his best to redress that balance, in a book that wills you see the world quite differently than you did before.”—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

“Just as everything we consume comes from somewhere on earth, so too everything we produce must go somewhere on earth—even if we don't want to think about it. This book compels us to. A fascinating, deeply researched, and hugely important exposé of what happens to the stuff we no longer want, and the social and environmental cost of dealing with it. Revelatory, thoughtful, and honest about our complex relationship with waste.”—Gaia Vince, award-winning journalist and author of Transcendence and Nomad Century

Well written and narrated

This book is very informative and despite the topic, the author has written with great skill.

Our Trash

I’m not a wild eye tree hugging sort, but I believe that this book is of immense value. This well written and narrated book lays out a compelling argument. I highly recommend.

Will change how you think about waste

Powerful, frightening, educational, and pops so many self righteous bubbles. An excellent book. Facts are better than wishes!

Great breadth of coverage

I expected this book to cover normal household waste and recycling. I did not expect and was pleased with the coverage of sewage, industrial waste, and even nuclear waste.

I also appreciated the author’s self-disclosing style and avoidance of preaching unrealistic ideals or oversimplifying a very complex problem. The best books cause you to think, question and explore topics further. This does all of that.

Waste Knot

Somehow this book satisfied me on many levels. The author’s voice and dedication to researching the subject shine through the sometimes overwhelming and potentially action-paralyzing scope of the subject. Hope for me came through the voices of folks on the non-industrial front lines—a Ukrainian clothing reclaimer, a polyamorous dumpster-diving worm farmer, and kids supporting families by creatively and heroically finding materials to trade amidst horribly dangerous work environments. One of the most inspiring and humanistic treatments of the subject I’ve read.

Shocking book

A lot of these notions are superficially known of but the author does a great job further explaining them to people so as to give a real understanding of the consequences of the consumerist world we live in.

Clear and interesting review of all our waste

I loved this book, it was very confrontational at times but beautifully written and sometimes very witty.
I wish everyone could read this book or at least be made aware of what happens to each type of waste we are creating.
Remember, 1st reduce, then reuse, repair, reuse, repair, resell, reuse :-) and only then when there is no other choice… recycle and recycle properly!

Impactful

Timely book for policy makers in the most urgent global challenges. Not just science and data but with humanitarian concerns. Well done.

Big dose of reality - highly recommend!

Big dose of reality that will stick with me. Overwhelming. Well written. Many thank to the author.