THE WASTE-FREE WORLD

A sensible manifesto on behalf of recycling and other means of reducing waste.

Appointed New York City deputy commissioner for sanitation, recycling, and sustainability during the Bloomberg administration, Gonen is a longtime advocate of environmental restoration and protection with a sharp eye for practical tactics. As he learned in NYC, because corporations depend on taxpayer dollars to dispose of their waste, “a modern form of socialism” supporting ostensible champions of the free market, the public sector spends huge amounts of money on disposal that might better be used to upgrade infrastructure. Here, examining many corners of the economy, the author agitates for adopting “circular methods of production, distribution, consumption, and reuse of products and materials.” The pandemic provides a case in point: Gonen argues that the shortage of personal protective equipment could have been alleviated if single-use masks were not trashed but instead sterilized with a hydrogen peroxide mist. “Throwing away PPE,” he writes, “was a legacy of a horribly inefficient business model, not a medical requirement.” Throughout, the author examines the role of government for good and ill. He lauds the victory garden program and waste-reduction measures of the Depression era while noting that after World War II, federal programs “helped supercharge consumption” by making cheap credit easily available and pushing goods with planned obsolescence built into their DNA. Gonen also praises responsive industries—e.g., paper manufacturers, who, though likely glad that the paperless office has not come to pass, are taking care to plant two trees for every one felled and inventors who tinker with means to convert abundant materials, such as cow (and human) waste, into biogas. The author closes by urging businesses to adopt circular models if only as a selling point, since consumers are increasingly demanding environmental responsibility. Advocating a point without descending into mere rhetoric, the author ventures a well-reasoned case for changing our ways as producers and consumers.

Green-minded readers will learn much from Gonen’s investigations.