Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade

Growing up as the son of a scrap dealer in Minneapolis, Minter learned firsthand that one man’s trash is truly another man’s treasure. In his first book, the Shanghai-based journalist charts the globalization of the recycling trade, focusing on the U.S. and China, and featuring a cast that ranges from self-made scrap-metal tycoons to late-night garbage pickers. Notable passages include a trip to Wen’an, one of China’s most notoriously polluted plants where employees process hazardous materials while wearing sandals. Minter successfully resists oversimplifying the issue China currently faces—with a growing middle class demanding more raw materials for new construction, the options are living with the pollution caused by recycling or the environmental consequences of mining for raw materials. Minter takes readers through the Shanghai market where parts are harvested from second-hand electronics, but finds that the more complex the technology, the harder it is to reuse the metals. The scrap trade is one of the few business ventures possible in the developing world and this “profession for outsiders” shows no signs of slowing down. Minter concludes that the solution is in the first word in the phrase, “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.” 2 16-page color inserts. (Nov.)