by Edward Humes
Sea Education Association, 121
seagulls, 32–33
SEAPLEX (Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition). See Project Kaisei
Seattle, waste management in, 134
SENSEable City Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. See Trash Track
single-use grocery bags. See plastic grocery bags
smart trash. See Trash Track
Smith, Norton, 110, 113, 114
Smith, Sheli, 152–53, 165–66
soda bottles. See bottles
solar power, 234–35
Solid Waste Association of North America, 54
Solid Waste Disposal Act (1965), 70
Speiser, Mike “Big Mike,” 19–22, 54, 93–94
Steiner, David. See Waste Management, Inc. (WMI)
Steinman, Susan Leibovitz, 180–81
Sterling, Bruce, 131
Stookey, Nathaniel, 171
Superbag Operating, Ltd., 210, 216
Superfund program, 27, 83
Swanson Foods, 66
Szaky, Tom, 204–9
TerraCycle, 204–9
Themelis, Nickolas, 227, 231–32, 233–34, 236–37
Thomas, Marta, 181
toxic chemicals and materials
in affluent versus poor neighborhoods, 150
bio-magnification, 119–20
dioxins, 49, 89, 230
entrapment through plasma gasification, 224
in e-waste, 138, 140–42
improper disposal of, 30, 56, 149–50, 158
in landfill leachate, 24, 83, 158–59
in marine plastics, 99, 119–20
mass burn technology output, 230
municipal collection programs, 149–50
in plastics, 66, 258
Superfund program, 27, 83
waste-to-energy emissions, 88, 89, 230, 232
trash. See also Garbage Project; Trash Track; specific types and issues
amount generated, 4–5, 7–9, 15, 52, 150–51, 256–57
as archaeological record, 22, 145–46
closed loop system, 76, 77, 175, 236
components of, 34, 35
costs of, 7
emerging types of, 138
export to China, 9–11
facts about, 15, 95–96
invisibility of, 6, 57, 139
as measure of prosperity, 5–6, 58–60
receptacle size and, 150–51
trash Olympics, 54–55
Trash Track
citizen volunteers, 139
e-waste follow-up project, 141–42
findings of, 137–40
goal and inception of, 132–34
launch of trash into waste stream, 136–37
location of program, 133–34
technology used in, 134–36
Ulehla, Niki, 169–71, 185–86
Union Carbide, 70
United Nations estimate of ocean plastic, 96
upcycling, 13, 209
Vienna, waste-to-energy plant in, 230
Virginia Garbage War, 29
Wareham, William, 180
Waring, George E., 39–44
waste. See trash
wastefulness
cultural shift from, 236–37
invisibility of, 6, 57, 139
as mind-set and habit, 161–64, 179, 217, 219
as norm, 64, 257–59
plastic grocery bags as symbol of, 217–19
recycling as license for, 139, 177, 219
to reduce, 260–61
versus waste, 162–63
Waste Makers, The (Packard), 62–63
waste management. See landfills; waste-to-energy; specific issues
Waste Management, Inc. (WMI)
funding of Trash Track study, 132
green technologies of, 80–81
inception and growth of, 77–79
landfill business of, 75–76, 78, 80
waste-to-energy. See also power generation
cost of large-scale plants, 232
Danish model of, 227–29, 231
district heating, 228
emissions of, 88, 89, 230, 232
mass burn technology of, 230
objections to, 224–25
plasma gasification, 224, 237
versus recycling, 233–34
regions adopting, 25, 227, 234
small-scale operations, 227, 234–35
trash flow for, 8
unrealized visions for, 71, 73, 82, 84–90
Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council, 241
water bottles. See bottles
wind energy, 229
WMI. See Waste Management, Inc. (WMI)
Woodring, Doug, 109
Wright, Willard H., 68–69
Wyeth, Nathaniel, 66
Yorty, Sam, 29
Zhang Yin, 9–11
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
EDWARD HUMES is the author of eleven critically acclaimed nonfiction books, including Force of Nature, Monkey Girl, Over Here, School of Dreams, No Matter How Loud I Shout and the bestseller Mississippi Mud. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN Award and numerous other awards for his journalism and books. He has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine and Sierra. He lives with his family—including the two most recent additions, a pair of rescued racing greyhounds—in California.