An authoritative review of issues in waste management both in the United States and globally that measures the scope of the problem and examines the latest scientific and policy initiatives for addressing it.

This urgent volume provides an up-to-date overview of waste management, outlining ways that individuals, groups, and governments can reduce waste through integrated strategies.

From household trash to radioactive material, Waste Managementcovers the many types of waste humans produce, then looks at the latest scientific breakthroughs and policy initiatives focusing on the waste management problem. It provides a historical context for understanding the current garbage crisis and examines a number of important events and current issues, including the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, managing the debris from Hurricane Katrina and the World Trade Center site, shipbreaking and human rights violations in Asia, the freecycling movement, and San Francisco’s ban on plastic grocery bags. The book also looks at the problem globally, from the most developed country to cultures that rely on trash picking and scavenging.

A separate chapter of primary source documents relevant to the issue of waste management, including presidential speeches, industry statistics, and international agreements

A chronology ranging from 1757 and the first municipal trash cleaning service to the ban on the production, sale, and use of plastic bags in China in 2008