SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

ONE OF THE NEW YORKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 

INCLUDED IN THE GUARDIAN'S BEST IDEAS BOOKS OF 2023

‘A gripping read that will anger as much as it fascinates’ Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

‘An incredible journey into the world of rubbish, full of fascinating characters and mind-bending facts’ Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland

‘Urgent, probing and endlessly interesting’ Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

'There are stories in all our discarded things: who made them, what they meant to a person before they were thrown away. In the end, it all ends up in the same place – the endless ingenuity of humanity in one filthy, fascinating mass.'
 
When we throw things ‘away’, what does that actually mean? Where does it go, and who deals with it when it gets there? In Wasteland, award-winning journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on an eye-opening journey through the global waste industry. From the mountainous landfills of New Delhi to Britain’s overflowing sewers, from hollowed-out mining towns in the USA to Ghana’s flooded second-hand markets, we meet the people on the frontline of our waste crisis – both those being exploited, and those determined to make a difference. On the way, we discover the corporate greenwashing that started the recycling movement; the dark truth behind our second-hand donations; and come face to face with the 10,000-year legacy of our nuclear waste.
 
Both shocking and hopeful, Wasteland is the timely and ultimately human story at the heart of an urgent global issue.
 

"‘The book comes alive in its descriptions of people and places ... Franklin-Wallis writes stylishly about ugly things ... interesting and sobering ... His book should prompt serious discussion in boardrooms and parliaments’ " - The Economist

"‘Wasteland is so captivating. It is an unflinching account of the best and worst of us, related through the things we choose to discard. Franklin-Wallis has travelled extensively to tell the story of waste and the result is fascinating’ " - Literary Review

"‘In Wasteland, he tackles all elements of the effects of waste, from cities in India and Ghana to the banks of the river Thames in London. His eye for detail, honed over years of non-fiction writing, turns the abstract into the immediate – and the alarming . . . Part of what makes Wasteland so powerful is that it doesn’t chide. Its strongest parts are when Franklin-Wallis walks with those contributing to, or affected by, the failures, injustices and complexities of dealing with waste . . . Wasteland isn’t a comfortable read, but it’s an important one’" - New Scientist

"‘Do not adjust your magazine, but this really is a positive review… In other hands this book could have been worthy but unreadable. It’s full of arresting figures… Franklin-Wallis, the features editor at GQ, grounds his narrative in first hand reporting… Oh, and one more thing. We all need to buy less stuff’ " - Private Eye

"‘His access to the places that bury, sort, burn and treat the world’s waste is impressive, considering that hardly anyone in the industry was willing to talk to him . . . The statistics will fill you with despair . . . Luckily we have some heroes . . . Much of Franklin-Wallis’s efforts go to puncturing common western assumptions . . . the author renders a public service as important as a recycling truck or a functioning toilet’ " - Spectator

"‘A first-hand reported account of a sprawling global environmental conundrum… Franklin-Wallis makes an important case for tighter, smarter regulation in a world where individual “litterbugs” are blamed for a packaging waste problem caused by companies that have successfully dodged full responsibility’ " - Financial Times

"‘Oliver Franklin-Wallis’s Wasteland shows how our rubbish creates an environmental and human catastrophe… Wasteland makes clear, in reality it is those on the margins of society the world over who are left to deal with the mountains of trash humanity adds to in every second of every day… well written and few readers are likely to be left unaffected by its findings’ " - New Statesman

"‘[An] eye-opening investigation into the global waste crisis and recycling industry’" - Editor’s Choice, Bookseller

"‘[A] scary reflection of our overconsumption and failure to deal with its impact. . . completely engrossing. . . it is the wake-up call we need to do better’
 " - Euronews

"'A travelogue around dumps, scrapyards, disposal and recycling facilities, from giant machines that shred TVs and other electronic devices to vast landfill sites in India: the all-too-solid hinterlands of our obsession with buying and throwing away so much stuff'" - Guardian, Books of the Year