Year of No Garbage: Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems, and One Woman's Trashy Journey to Zero Waste

Released in April 2023 by Skyhorse | 288 pages

By Eve O. Schaub

Recommended by Cindy in Cornish, NH and by pretty much every member of the Beyond Plastics staff!

“An excellent read!”

“Eve’s book brings much-needed humor to a very serious problem as she takes a deep dive into her own consumption habits and the bigger picture of our throwaway society and decades of corporate greenwashing.”

From the Publisher:

In this book Eve O. Schaub, humorist and stunt memoirist extraordinaire, tackles her most difficult challenge to date: garbage. Convincing her husband and two daughters to go along with her, Schaub attempts the seemingly impossible: living in the modern world without creating any trash at all. For an entire year. And- as it turns out- during a pandemic.

In the process, Schaub learns some startling things: that modern recycling is broken, and single stream recycling is a lie. That flushable wipes aren’t flushable and compostables aren’t compostable. That plastic drives climate change, fosters racism, and is poisoning the environment and our bodies at alarming rates, as microplastics are being found everywhere, from the top of Mount Everest to the placenta of unborn babies. If you’ve ever thought twice about that plastic straw in your drink, you’re gonna want to read this book.