Garbage Land by Elizabeth Royte

[Scottishduffy]

DESCRIPTION: Like the bestselling Fast Food Nation, GARBAGE LAND lifts the lid off a world we take for granted, revealing its complicated, surprising underbelly. In this highly unconventional travel book, Elizabeth Royte leads the reader on a cultural tour guided and informed by the things she throws away. Structured around four separate journeys--those of Royte’s household trash, compostable matter, recyclables, and sewage--GARBAGE LAND is a literary investigation of the truly dirty side of consumption. Royte melds science, anthropology, and a strong dose of clear-headed analysis in her appraisal of America’s relationship with its garbage, examining the uncomfortable subject of waste in much the same way Mary Roach’s Stiff tackled corpses. 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, like it or not, the garbage we create will always be with us.

I enjoyed this book. It as an easy and interesting read. Some parts were quite funny while other were horrible disgusting. Obviously, the author comes out in favor of recycling, but is not overly preachy with this view. In fact when it comes to recycling plastics she may well be against that. I would recommend this book as an interesting foray into an area people seldom think about.