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 Management covers 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 countries to peoples that rely on trash picking and scavenging to survive.