This book looks at the waste products humans create and how they affect the environment. Young readers learn why what you don’t see can hurt you...and also understand the innovative steps they can take now and in the future to make a difference in meeting the challenges posed by the planet’s garbage crisis.

Humans have always generated garbage, whether it’s a chewed-on bone or a broken cell phone. Our landfills are overflowing, but with some creative thinking, stuff we once threw away can become a collection of valuable resources just waiting to be harvested. Trash Talk digs deep into the history of garbage, from Minoan trash pits to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and uncovers some of the many innovative ways people all over the world are dealing with waste.

Young readers will discover what happens to trash in a landfill.

On average, each American throws away a staggering one ton of trash every year. Most of that trash will reach a dead end in a landfill, taking up space and polluting the earth. We can all make an effort to live a life less trashy by recycling, reusing, and being smart about what we buy. But what can we do with the trash we do make? Cities all over the world are making their trash work for them by turning it into energy. In waste-to-energy power plants, trash is burned in a controlled way to generate electricity while keeping it out of the landfill. Even landfilled trash can be used to generate energy, if we harness the gas released when garbage breaks down. Turning trash into energy is a practical way to help our landfills last longer and reduce our need for polluting energy from coal and oil. Tell your parents!

Think you know all about how your stuff impacts the environment? Think again! Where did all our “stuff” come from? And where does it go when we’re done with it? Kids find out by tracking the life cycles of typical items in a school backpack — water, food, clothing, paper, plastic, metals and electronics. Though they all end as waste, there are lots of decisions to be made along the way. And kids will see that there’s an important, constructive role they can play by making choices that are good for them — and for the planet! A cotton T-shirt. A plastic water bottle. A cell phone. Kids will never look at their stuff the same way again!

On a global scale, humans create around 2.6 trillion pounds of waste every year. None of this trash is harmless—landfills and dumps leak toxic chemicals into soil and groundwater, while incinerators release toxic gases and particles into the air. What can we do to keep garbage from swallowing up Earth? Reducing, reusing, recycling, and upcycling are some of the answers. Learn more about the work of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Ocean Cleanup Array, the zero waste movement, and the many other government, business, research, and youth efforts working to solve our planet's garbage crisis.

"This title delves into different issues pertaining to household waste and its causes, effects, and how we can proactively deal with it to make our planet a cleaner and healthier place."--