Total Garbage (A Messy Dive into Trash, Waste, and Our World)

Total Garbage by Rebecca Donnelly dives into the messy truth about trash, garbage, waste, and our world—it's a fact-filled and fascinating illustrated middle grade environmental read!

Trash has been part of human societies since the beginning. It seems like the inevitable end to the process of making and using things—but why?

In this fascinating account of the waste we make, we'll wade into the muck of history and explore present-day STEM innovations to answer these important questions:

What is garbage?
Where does our garbage come from?
Why do we make so much garbage?
Where does our garbage go?
What can we learn from our garbage?
How bad is our garbage problem?
How can we do better?

Rebecca Donnelly tackles the extraordinary, the icky, and the everyday, helping us see how our choices, personal and societal, impact our world and our planet—and encouraging us make a change.

Back matter includes a timeline of the history of waste management, selected bibliography, and index.


"clear, engaging writing. . . [and] whimsical, informative, detailed teal-tone line drawings add to a captivating and important book. . . A fact-filled and fascinating dumpster dive of a book." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review on Total Garbage


"this book makes garbage fun to read about and is a great choice for browsable nonfiction shelves and curricular tie-ins" —School Library Journal on Total Garbage

"Readers will need strong stomachs for some of the nauseating facts Donnelly dishes in her deep dumpster dive, but they’ll emerge a heartier lot that’s armed with awareness and the tools to clean up their acts, environmentally speaking. " —Booklist on Total Garbage