{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0306827115?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"0306827115","authors":["Oliver Franklin-Wallis"],"book_id":"9780306827112","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/wasteland-0306827115","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780306827112.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","description":"NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY THE NEW YORKER, THE GUARDIAN, and KIRKUS REVIEWS An award-winning investigative journalist takes a deep dive into the global waste crisis, exposing the hidden world that enables our modern economy — and finds out the dirty truth behind a simple question: what really happens to what we throw away? In Wasteland , journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on a shocking journey inside the waste industry—the secretive multi-billion dollar world that underpins the modern economy, quietly profiting from what we leave behind. In India, he meets the waste-pickers on the front line of the plastic crisis. In the UK, he journeys down sewers to confront our oldest—and newest—waste crisis, and comes face-to-face with nuclear waste. In Ghana, he follows the after-life of our technology and explores the global export network that results in goodwill donations clogging African landfills. From an incinerator to an Oklahoma ghost-town, Franklin-Wallis travels in search of the people and companies that really handle waste—and on the way, meets the innovators and campaigners pushing for a cleaner and less wasteful future. With this mesmerizing, thought-provoking, and occasionally terrifying investigation, Oliver Franklin-Wallis tells a new story of humanity based on what we leave behind, and along the way, he shares a blueprint for building a healthier, more sustainable world—before we’re all buried in trash.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780306827112","publication_date":"20230718","publisher":"Grand Central Publishing","slug":"wasteland","subtitle":"The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future","title":"Wasteland"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"BUS070040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Energy Industry","score":0.7386,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"BUS070150","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mining & Extraction Business","score":0.733,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN050080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Conservation & Environment for Teens","score":0.7295,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"BUS070040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Energy Industry","score":0.7386,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"BUS070150","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mining & Extraction Business","score":0.733,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN050080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Conservation & Environment for Teens","score":0.7295,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"NAT011000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Conservation","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI026000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Environmental Science","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"TEC010020","confidence_band":"high","label":"Waste Management","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Energy Industry","score":0.7386,"slug":"energy-industry"},{"label":"Mining & Extraction Business","score":0.733,"slug":"mining-extraction-business"},{"label":"Conservation & Environment for Teens","score":0.7295,"slug":"conservation-environment-for-teens"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Energy Industry","Good for readers interested in management","Good for readers who enjoy Energy Industry and Mining & Extraction Business."],"related_lists":[{"intro":"","slug":"shelf-bus070040-energy","title":"Energy Books","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/shelf-bus070040-energy"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Tatiana Schlossberg"],"book_id":"9781538747070","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781538747070.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":10.014,"title":"Inconspicuous Consumption","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781538747070"},{"authors":["Adrienne Buller"],"book_id":"9781526162632","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781526162632.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":9.9949,"title":"The Value of a Whale","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781526162632"},{"authors":["Bill McKibben"],"book_id":"9781324130628","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781324130628.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":9.9569,"title":"Here Comes the Sun","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781324130628"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:landfill management"],"label":"Management","score":0.0688,"slug":"management"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Management.","Reading lane: Energy Industry and Mining & Extraction Business.","Publisher: Grand Central Publishing."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":331,"goodreads_ratings_count":2684,"goodreads_reviews_count":435,"quality_score":0.9508}}