About this title: What happens to the garbage after it's picked up in front of the house by a huge, noisy truck? Elizabeth Royte set out to find the answer, and in this entertaining exposé she tracks garbage to its final destination: in New York, the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island. Tackling the issues of pollution, NIMBY, and crime, Royte interviews those responsible for keeping garbage out of sight and smell, and doesn't neglect the colorful details of the garbage world, some of them (like decomposition) rather unsavory, others (like garbagemen's slang) fascinating indeed.
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Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN-13:9780316738262ISBN:0316738263
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: NONE ] [ Writing: NONE ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Pub Date: 1/1/2005 Binding: Paperback Pages: 311. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780739464298ISBN:0739464299
Description: Very Good. This is a very nice paperback copy. Binding is tight and square. No names, no marks, no stickers. Text is clean and bright. Careful packaging and fast shipping. We recommend PRIORITY MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780739464298ISBN:0739464299
Description: Excellent. No jacket. Sale for Charity. Proceeds go to fund our Social Service programs. All items are donations and are used, but are carefully checked for condition. This book has a little wear on the edges and corners, but no serious damage. read more
Description: Good. 2005-Hardcover---Used-Good. Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Date Published: 2006-08-29
ISBN-13:9780316154611ISBN:031615461X
Description: New in None as issued. jacket. New, unread copy. We ship 6 days a week, generally within 24 hours; single CDs and DVDs upgraded to 1st class! read more
Description: Good. Publishers Overstock. A Good copy with a Remainder Mark and wear to the extremities. There is a small tear on the dust jacket and chipping to the edges. read more
Edition: 2nd Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780316738262ISBN:0316738263
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 6 x 9 1/2. 320 page hardcover. Dustjacket is complete and bright, crisp and clean. Exterior is green board with gold lettering on spine & no noticeable wear. Interior is unmarked, tight and clean-but the upper corner of a few pages have be creased. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Little, Brown:
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780739464298ISBN:0739464299
Description: Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 2005, 311 pages. "An excellent excursion into our ephemera and rejectamenta, both of which says more about us than we ever seem to understand. " FINE SOFTCOVER. read more
Description: Brand New. Hardcover. "Radiantly written and boldly reported, this book by an acclaimed science writer takes us on a bizarre tour of our wasteful society. By showing us what really happens to the things we've "disposed of, " Royte reminds us that our decisions about consumption and waste have a very real impact-and that unless we undertake radical change, the garbage we create will always be with us: in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we consume. " read more
"Abandoned. I read the first 100 pages or so, about the author's efforts to follow her own trash to the landfill, and then dipped into various sections in the back on plastics, human waste, and recycling, but I don't think I can possibly read through this dull thing. For me the problem is that it is a very specifically personal book: it is not about what happens to trash in general, it is about the NYC-based author's experiences in attempting to trace the fate of her personal trash. Maybe she was advised that "nobody wants to read about trash, so make it about your specific trash," and maybe this approach makes this book better for some audiences - but not for me."
"Interesing account of the authors discovery of the journey of her household trash and its environmental, social and economic roles. Finally some in print answers or lack there of about some of the problems of recycling, and waste. Excellent example of how changing our own habits and changing our consumer habits as a society is the best way to addressing the trash issue. Quick and easy to read, full of interesting infomation, history and facts about NYC and the waste industry."
"Excellent book that describes where New York City trash goes. She points out the good and bad of recycling, composting, waste disposal/treatment, landfills. Her book challenges overconsumption and our disposable/single use habits. The author traveled around the country to learn about what other cities are doing for waste disposal and recycling."
"Elizabeth Royte decided one day to find out what happened to her garbage. The result is Garbage Land, a mesmerizing trip through the hidden, but necessary, side of the consumption society.
The waste stream has tripled since 1960, 4.3 pounds per person. In 2003, every American generated 1.31 tons of trash each year, about 2.5 times what a resident of Oslo, Norway produces. The quantities of waste that we produce each day is staggering and technological approaches to managing the waste have evolved rapidly even since the eighties. Sanitary landfills, invented during the fifties in an attempt to control leachate, the intermixing of chemicals and organic materials, and prevent it from entering the groundwater supply, have become hugely expensive to build and maintain. They contain pipes to collect the leachate and return it to the top of the landfill, believing that it stimulates the breakdown of organic materials and speeds up the creation of methane, a valuable gas that is used to produce electricity in many locations.
Other installations produce electricity by burning trash (WTE, or waste-to-energy, plants.) Metal and other obvious non-flammables are pulled from the huge daily loads by large magnets and recycled. The rest is burned and toxic chemicals (remember, people throw out all sorts of hazardous stuff in the trash) are scrubbed from the smoke (most of it anyway) and the resulting ash (at least that's the plan.) The problem is that evidence is mounting that people who live close to WTE plants and landfills (because methane that leaks out often contains a variety of really awful chemicals) show much higher incidence than normal of a variety of ailments.
The numbers are staggering and ironically the costs drive policy (so what else is new.) New York can no longer afford to recycle because the cost of shipping trash off to Pennsylvania (largest importer of trash in the country) is so high they can't afford the additional manpower and vehicles to process the recylables. That means more goes into the landfills or is burned, creating an even more bizarre mixture of chemicals to form who knows what in the landfill. And even 40 mm plastic sheathing at the bottom of these things is not 100% effective.
For those of you wanting to return to the simpler days of yore, a few facts:
1. In mid-nineteenth century New York, residents simply threw their trash out the window for scavengers to ravage. Often, by spring, garbage and less savory material might be two to three feet deep on the streets. Only the wealthy could afford trash collection.
2. Horses left 500,000 pounds of manure a day on Manhattan streets, and 45,000 gallons of urine. Horses worked hard; their average life span was 2.5 years and in 1880 15,000 dead horses littered the streets. Again, wild animals were expected to make the carcasses more portable by stripping the flesh off them so they could be dumped into the bay.
3. Ocean dumping virtually destroyed the famous oyster beds, but provided the land for the World's Fair and today's airports. It wasn't until 1948 that the public opinion demanded the first city dump.
Don't forget that today is the good old days of tomorrow.
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