Finally finished this. It took me about 6 weeks to read it, not because it's dense- it's actually quite conversational or even informal in tone- but it's packed with information. I learned a lot. The previous book I had read on this topic ended on a pro-waste-to-energy incineration note. This book rips up the concept of safe waste incineration. Even the most well monitored, carefully run incinerators are probably releasing nano-particles, ash and dioxins, destroying potentially re-usable resources and creating pollution. Paul Connett has been campaigning against waste incineration since 1985, and that fight lead him into the larger global struggle for sustainable waste management focused on composting, reducing, reusing, repairing and recycling to cut down the residual waste stream as much as possible. Another big take-away from this book is that Zero Waste is not a new trend. I would almost say that the more current use of zero waste by bloggers like Bea Johnson is co-opting a term that is a lot more powerful and effective went implemented on a community scale, rather than in a single house hold. It's good when individuals or families make a commitment to aim for zero waste; but as a movement that started in the late 80s/early 90s, Zero Waste has historically been about wider scale change. This book calls for limiting the extraction of virgin materials, the production of single use items, reducing the pollution caused by manufacturing and waste of resources caused by landfill and incineration. They present case studies of many communities, particularly in the US, Canada and Italy, that have made practical changes on the level of policy and infrastructure over the past few decades. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this issue, especially if your community is currently debating a new waste management system; the appendix includes a list of questions to bring up at city council meetings about planned incinerator projects.