Outsmart Waste The Modern Idea of Garbage and How to Think Our Way Out of It

Ever-expanding landfills, ocean gyres filled with floating plastic mush, endangered wildlife. Our garbage has become a massive and exponentially growing problem in modern society. Eco-entrepreneur Tom Szaky explores why this crisis exists and explains how can we solve it by eliminating the very idea of garbage. To outsmart waste, he says, we first have to understand it, then change how we create it, and finally rethink what we do with it.

By mimicking nature and focusing on the value inherent in our by-products, we can transform the waste we can’t avoid creating from useless trash to a useful resource. Szaky demonstrates that there is value in every kind of garbage, from used chewing gum to juice pouches to cigarette butts. After reading this mind-expanding book, you will never think about garbage the same way again.

Tom Szaky is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle (www.terracycle.com), an innovative and award-winning global recycling company that makes typically nonrecyclable waste recyclable in over twenty-four countries around the world. Globally, over 60 million people participate in TerraCycle’s programs.

Introduction: The unique nature of garbage
Chapter 1: Where the modern idea of garbage came from
Chapter 2: The role of the individual purchase
Chapter 3: Our primary global solution to waste: bury it
Chapter 4: The energy inherent in our waste
Chapter 5: The hierarchy of waste
Chapter 6: The art of upcycling
Chapter 7: The science of recycling
Chapter 8: The critical element of separation
Chapter 9: The economics of outsmarting waste
Conclusion: Waste is over! (if you want it)
Notes
Index
About Tom Szaky
About TerraCycle