Foreword

Waste is natural to every living system.

We all consume and at some point eliminate. Eventually, everything and everyone has an end of life.

We may frown on someone who litters or tosses a cigarette butt on the street, but is putting a candy wrapper in the garbage bin—only for it to be trucked to a landfill—much better for the planet? With the more than 4 pounds of garbage the average American discards every day, our individual contributions to this collective trove of waste are hard to countenance, and, largely, we don’t.

Globally, humanity has evolved into the modern disposable society, readily buying and discarding non-recyclable products and packaging that were designed to enhance consumer convenience and regular repeat purchases. For the most part, consumers—and I am very much a part of this—buy disposable items and discard them, and we are largely inattentive to where our waste goes. With an addictive satisfaction (but largely without conscience), we each contribute to vast concentrations of waste that nature can’t digest and that add toxins into the atmosphere. Our blind eye to how much waste we produce and contribute is a spiritual breach. The flush syndrome is very much an aspect of our shadow, and it festers into a collective disrespect for our home—our planet.

Tom Szaky is a waste pioneer and an eco-capitalist. At age 31 he’s running a company that operates in 24 countries, collecting and recycling waste that is otherwise landfilled or incinerated. In this book Tom illuminates pathways to finding “gold in garbage heaps” and, more importantly, explains how human-created waste can be reused, recycled, and reintegrated into our commercial systems. Through his company, TerraCycle, and this book, Tom is tackling a seemingly unsolvable global problem to which each individual contributes. Thanks to this book, I can no longer acquire and discard unconsciously, and as I’ve long said, change begins with awareness.

Tom’s prescription isn’t abstinence: He too likes to buy and own, and he is very much aware of the short life cycle of most goods. Rather, Tom suggests that we might consume our way out of the problem—practically aligning the economic forces that drive consumerism to a positive role in the solution. Tom brings the global waste picture into new focus, and in so doing he may help us solve the individual and societal compromises we each make when we somewhat blindly and seemingly helplessly discard and pollute our planet, our home, and our corporal body.

—Deepak Chopra