Junkyard planet : travels in the billion-dollar trash trade

Resource Information

The work Junkyard planet : travels in the billion-dollar trash trade represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Vancouver Public Library, Britannia Branch (Open with Limited Services). This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Junkyard planet : travels in the billion-dollar trash trade

Title remainder

travels in the billion-dollar trash trade

Statement of responsibility

Adam Minter

Title variation

Junk-yard planet

Title variation remainder

travels in the billion-dollar trash trade

Creator

• Minter, Adam, 1970-

Subject

• Recycling (Waste, etc.)
• Recycling industry
• Refuse and refuse disposal
• Refuse disposal industry
• Scrap materials

Language

eng

Summary

When you drop your Diet Coke can or yesterday's newspaper in the recycling bin, where does it go? Probably halfway around the world, to people and places that clean up what you don't want and turn it into something you can't wait to buy. In Junkyard Planet, Adam Minter-- veteran journalist and son of an American junkyard owner-- travels deeply into a vast, often hidden, multibillion-dollar industry that's transforming our economy and environment. Minter takes us from back-alley Chinese computer recycling operations to recycling factories capable of processing a jumbo jet's worth of trash every day. Along the way, we meet an international cast of characters who have figured out how to squeeze Silicon Valley-scale fortunes from what we all throw away. Junkyard Planet reveals how "going green" usually means making money-- and why that's often the most sustainable choice, even when the recycling methods aren't pretty. With unmatched access to and insight on the waste industry, and the explanatory gifts and an eye for detail worthy of a John McPhee or William Langewiesche, Minter traces the export of America's garbage and the massive profits that China and other rising nations earn from it. What emerges is an engaging, colorful, and sometimes troubling tale of how the way we consume and discard stuff brings home the ascent of a developing world that recognizes value where Americans don't. Junkyard Planet reveals that Americans might need to learn a smarter way to take out the trash

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

338.4/7363728

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps
• plates

Index

index present

LC call number

HD9975.A2

LC item number

M495 2013

Literary form

non fiction