Discover new selections
Buy new:
-41% $17.69
FREE delivery Saturday, May 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$17.69 with 41 percent savings
List Price: $30.00
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, May 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 2 hrs 48 mins
Or Prime members get FREE delivery Wednesday, April 30.
In Stock
$$17.69 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.69
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$15.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
Item is USED, with normal wear and tear. Item is USED, with normal wear and tear. See less
FREE delivery Saturday, May 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 2. Order within 2 hrs 48 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$17.69 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.69
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Sold by CCH2O and Fulfilled by Amazon.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Oliver Franklin-Wallis
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future Hardcover – July 18, 2023

4.6 out of 5 stars 277 ratings
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$17.69","priceAmount":17.69,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"69","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"UIjX2OHyjBhzzuwbjDIGS9hJNE8UDU3WI2oMoY7Q5AQhv9qQc3DpvMcreugh0hARf2M3EwDrRcX2GcgYNJRsmLv2EoSBMbYzi67u6qGTYDX4M51W4CaXPti1SosODg2CC9GnL1mbYgP2bXWcnLqBjg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$15.99","priceAmount":15.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"15","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"UIjX2OHyjBhzzuwbjDIGS9hJNE8UDU3WM8%2BBM8SjmilbX4d7rhIkepXr23d7pcrDyqKSXDAEmimovKdnP90pDCcUdl%2FDh4ZV9bcyJ7mMGClsuRMrF72d2YApx7HDdqNhlaiY9xZ2u7JFnE703AYWYBRsLwTclz5tx%2B1neh%2B69I507MwbRVggi4wEuN0PAQgx","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY THE NEW YORKER, THE GUARDIAN, and KIRKUS REVIEWS

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.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grand Central Publishing
  4. Publication date
    July 18, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.31 x 9.4 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0306827115
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0306827112
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
View Kindle Edition

Frequently bought together

Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future
This item: Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future
$17.69
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 3
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization
$35.00
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 3
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
How to Build, Maintain, and Use a Compost System Secrets and Techniques You Need to Know to Grow the Best Vegetables
$19.95
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 3
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price: $00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“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

“An urgent, probing and endlessly interesting investigation into our staggering wastefulness and the environmental crisis this is creating right under our noses. In Wasteland, Oliver Franklin-Walls offers us a behind the scenes guide to the processing plants, rubbish tips and refuse mountains that lurk in our back yards; the thundering machinery and skilled workers who strive tirelessly to relieve us of the spoils of our own profligacy. As he does so, he turns up rare treasures and unexpected beauties amid the junk and the mess. Tirelessly reported, it is a book both horrifying in its implications and gleefully hair-raising in the way it is told.”―Cal Flynn, award-winning author of Islands of Abandonment and Thicker than Water

“Wise, honest, and unsparing, Wasteland will open your eyes to the reality of our throwaway society.”―Henry Mance, award-winning interviewer and author of How to Love Animals

"Franklin-Wallis achieves the difficult feat of making an ostensibly mundane topic feel urgent, and the compassionate profiles effectively humanize a problem that’s massive in scope. Additionally, his proposed solutions are well considered, including suggestions to “make greenwashing illegal” and hold companies responsible for the waste they produce, no matter where it ends up. It’s a vital call to action."―Publisher's Weekly

"A sturdy outline of the future of toxic chemicals, microplastics, and endless garbage."―Kirkus Review

"As Franklin-Wallis also addresses the successes and limitations of recycling, Wasteland is an all-encompassing journey into what we throw away. The author's penetrating insight into how we both create and are threatened by this garbage shows the striking connection between humanity and our planet."―Booklist

July 2023 Must Read Book―Next Big Idea Club

"An eye-opening account of the global waste crisis—and how our throwaway culture is trashing the planet. ...Wasteland is an engaging read, and Franklin-Wallis writes in a personable style lightened by occasional touches of wit."―BookBrowse

About the Author

Oliver Franklin-Wallis is an award-winning magazine journalist and currently the features editor of British GQ. His writing has appeared in GQ, WIRED, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist, The Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Men’s Health, and many other publications. In 2017, he was named “Print Writer of the Year” by the British Society of Magazine Editors. He has spoken at events such as WIRED Live, Web Summit, and London Tech Week. He has appeared on TV, radio and podcasts, including the WIRED podcast, BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, and BBC World Service. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and daughter.
 

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing (July 18, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0306827115
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0306827112
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.03 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.31 x 9.4 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 277 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Oliver Franklin-Wallis

Oliver Franklin-Wallis

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
277 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book educational, with one review describing it as an excellent piece of investigative journalism. The book receives positive feedback for its readability, with one customer noting its thorough research.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

4 customers mention "Educational value"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book educational, with one customer describing it as an excellent piece of investigative journalism that reveals the secret world of waste.

"...He has done serious research and is telling the story in an engaging and sometimes unsettling way, making it very hard to ignore the scale of our..." Read more

"Excellent piece of investigative journalism." Read more

"Scary, insightful and interesting..." Read more

"Educational and Inspiring..." Read more

4 customers mention "Reading quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book worth reading, with one customer noting it is well written and another mentioning it is thoroughly researched.

"...He has done serious research and is telling the story in an engaging and sometimes unsettling way, making it very hard to ignore the scale of our..." Read more

"...Some parts are challenging & it will all make you think. Really well written & I’d highly reckoned it." Read more

"...the current and impending environmental crisis he does so in an engaging manner. I found it hard to put this book down." Read more

"Great read." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Byron T
    5.0 out of 5 stars Learn the secret world of waste
    Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    I have worked in the waste and recycling space for over two decades and think this book is worth reading for everyone to learn about the consequences of our society’s need for consumption.
    Franklin-Wallis does a great job of showing us how our discarded products live on after we throw it away, often with serious consequences for both people, animals, and the environment.
    He has done serious research and is telling the story in an engaging and sometimes unsettling way, making it very hard to ignore the scale of our waste problem.
    I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand the impact of our consumption and what needs to change for a healthy and sustainable future for our next generations.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • purplejo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Scary, insightful and interesting
    Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    This book might be about rubbish but is anything but. Some parts are challenging & it will all make you think. Really well written & I’d highly reckoned it.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Joyce
    4.0 out of 5 stars Start by buying less stuff
    Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2023
    I'm the kind of person that worries, a lot, about everything. This includes worrying about whether my recycling is really being recycled or not, wondering where my trash is actually going, and frequently reminding myself that I should start composting. So naturally, I was interested in this book, because I want to know what impact my consumption is having. I knew it wasn't going to be great news, but this book even surpassed my expectations for how grim and depressing the truth would be!

    The chapters of this book are like a personal tour of different kinds of waste: landfills, recycling (especially plastics), fashion/textiles, food waste, electronic waste, industrial waste, etc. The author is a journalist, and this book often reads a bit like a news piece, but in more detail and depth. It has a first-person feel to it, documenting the interactions the author has with workers that are directly involved in many of the trades that manage our waste. I think this makes the writing more engaging, but I was also nagged by the suspicion that maybe the book didn't include many voices of other experts that might be studying the problem of waste at a higher level.

    The end of the book has a simple message from the author: we should probably buy less stuff. As a person who was already trying to do this before reading this book, I think the grim depictions of what happens to my stuff after I throw it away gives me stronger motivation to watch what I consume. At the same time, I wish there had been some suggestions for what readers could do to impact the higher-level policy decisions that impact what waste is produced and how it is managed.
    9 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • SusanK
    5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommend!
    Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    This is one of the most important, thoughtful and thoroughly researched books I have ever read. Even though the author succeeds in informing the reader about the many aspects of the current and impending environmental crisis he does so in an engaging manner. I found it hard to put this book down.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • anne ozaksut
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough
    Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I wanted to learn more about solid waste and this book feels like an Atlantic article… very well written, good flow, great descriptions, great research. Loved it and highly recommend.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Mark Cohen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Educational and Inspiring
    Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Great read.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • CJPyay!
    4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
    Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2023
    💭Thoughts:
    This book is equal parts fascinating and disturbing. I learned so much about garbage and the process it goes through after it gets thrown away. I liked the way the author shares the findings from his research without sounding judgmental.

    It’s interesting to sit down and really think about as a society how we just throw things away so easily. Always in search of the next gadget. And to think that gadget might end up in a huge landfill in a third world country. Very eye opening.

    I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about trash and the effects it has on the world. Honestly, everyone should read this book.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • MCR Pennsylvania
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Excellent piece of investigative journalism.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente
    Reviewed in Brazil on September 2, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Muito bom!
    Report
  • Manicka
    5.0 out of 5 stars Go for it
    Reviewed in India on December 27, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    One of the best books on waste starting from food to nuclear.
    Everyone concerned about the environment should read it.
    The book will definitely help you to realise and buy only what is essential to live a minimalist life in a world where there is always some sale going on. It has reinforced my current way of life.
    Report
  • Emily
    5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, enthralling and easy to read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I found this book to be an incredibly interesting and well-researched insight into how the things we do and consume lead to waste and where exactly that waste ends up. The author leads us through a number of different topics in a way that flows and reads very easily. He draws out personal stories along the way to reflect the work that is going on across the globe in trying to manage, bring to light and to try to reduce the impact we are having on our planet. I found it to be both, at times, harrowing and heart-warming. A must for those who want to increase their understanding of the role we play in the waste crisis, and how the ripples of this stretch geographically and temporally.
    Report
  • Notion
    5.0 out of 5 stars The first step to deal with a problem is understand it
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I found this a fascinating read that touched all corners of my life. I was constantly searching online for the places that the author mentioned. He used his journalistic skills to the utmost to really understand and tell the story of what's happening from the perspective of those involved, be it Ghana or Sellafield. Loved it!
    Report
  • Rob Sedgwick
    4.0 out of 5 stars Some unpleasant truths
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 22, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Waste is something we mostly don't think about and are largely in denial about. This book is an exploration right across the waste sector, involving numerous field trips.
    Report