Green reads: book reviews

by Linda Frederiksen, Composter Recycler Class of 2025

Both books detailed below are informative and inspiring in different ways. They are both available to borrow through the Fort Vancouver Regional Library.

What happens to all the waste discarded around the globe? 

Waste wars: the wild afterlife of your trash by Alexander Clapp

"There is a gap between what the citizens know about their waste and what actually happens to their waste" said a Malaysian government official 2018 (qtd. in Clapp, 8).

Once readers get a peek behind the scenes, it's difficult to ignore the crisis that is occurring all around us. Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash by Alexander Clapp presents a global story beginning in 2016 near the Turkish city of Adana.

The opens with the compelling story of a toxic load of waste which was dumped and set on fire by an anonymous truck driver. The pile of trash contained candy wrappers, makeup containers, and price tags in different currencies, including euros and pounds. To investigate how European garbage ended up in a citrus orchard hundreds of miles away from the places they were purchased, author and journalist Alexander Clapp traveled to five continents tracking the flow of the world's garbage.

From Guatemala to Ghana, Clapp investigated many unique waste systems. His book recounts end of life disposal options for various items from broken cell phones to banned pesticides to entire decommissioned cruise ships. 

Not too late: changing the climate story from despair to possibility edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Lutunatabua 

As the 20+ contributors to Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility indicate, there is still hope for changing this story from despair to possibility.

The authors of the essays in this collection look beyond the complex issues related to plastics to the root of the central issue: fossil fuels, by-products and effects on the environment. For these editors, the current climate crisis is both bleak and dire, but it's not yet inevitable. There's still space and opportunity to make change.

There is a suggested call to action - a strong, vocal collective willingness to slow the damage being done to the earth and to keep it from getting any worse.

In answer to the question every person wants to know, "But, what can I do?" author and activist Mary Annaïse Heglar writes, "…your power in this fight lies not in what you can do as an individual but in your ability to be part of a collective…it's true that you can't solve the climate crisis alone, but it's even more true that we can't solve it without you." (qtd. in Solnit and Young Lutunatabua, 23). 

What about waste from Clark County?

Garbage, recycling, yard debris and organics are serviced by Waste Connections of WA.

After collection:

• Garbage is compacted and prepared for transport at the West Vancouver Transfer Station. Shipping containers of waste are loaded on a barge and transported upriver to Finley Buttes Landfill in Boardman, OR.
• Recycling is sorted at the Material Recovery Facility located at the West Vancouver Transfer Station. Materials are sorted by size, shape and type utilizing a variety of processes including staff sorting by hand and automated sorting systems.
• After materials are sorted, they are sent to various facilities that reprocess materials. At the time of this writing, most waste is reprocessed domestically. 
• Glass is sent to Glass to Glass, a Portland based glass recycler
• Mixed paper is sent to Norpac in Longview, WA.
• Cardboard is sent to Georgia Pacific in Toledo, OR.
• Plastics have multiple end markets domestically in California and Michigan with some plastics going to British Columbia.
• Material from organics carts is sent to Dirt Hugger in Dallsport, WA. 

Wondering what you can do in Clark County?

• Learn how to properly sort waste. Download the RecycleRight app or use A-Z Directory to search products and learn more about local disposal options.
• Attend a Composter Recycler or RecycleU workshop to learn more about sustainable living topics and waste management in Clark County.
• Join our Composter Recycler volunteer team. The volunteer certification training provides you with the tools and knowledge to share back to the community as a Sustainability Ambassador volunteer! 

Works cited 

Clapp, Alexander. Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash. Little, Brown and Company, 2025

Solnit, Rebecca, and Young Lutunatabua, Thelma editors. Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility. Haymarket Books, 2023