Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash

by Susan Strasser

An unprecedented look at that most commonplace act of everyday life-throwing things out-and how it has transformed American society.

Susan Strasser's pathbreaking histories of housework and the rise of the mass market have become classics in the literature of consumer culture. Here she turns to an essential but neglected part of that culture-the trash it produces-and finds in it an unexpected wealth of meaning.

Before the twentieth century, streets and bodies stank, but trash was nearly nonexistent. With goods and money scarce, almost everything was reused. Strasser paints a vivid picture of an America where scavenger pigs roamed the streets, swill children collected kitchen garbage, and itinerant peddlers traded manufactured goods for rags and bones. Over the last hundred years, however, Americans have become hooked on convenience, disposability, fashion, and constant technological change-the rise of mass consumption has led to waste on a previously unimaginable scale.

Lively and colorful, Waste and Want recaptures a hidden part of our social history, vividly illustrating that what counts as trash depends on who's counting, and that what we throw away defines us as much as what we keep.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Environment, Sustainability, Microhistory, Science, Sociology

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me FOREVER to get through. I would’ve given up but it was really interesting in between the boring bits! Such a slow read. And I almost gave up when I realized that the book was written in 1999. Somehow I hadn’t noticed that that meant it was 20 years old already, meaning it predated a lot of important waste related things like the rise of Chinese manufacturing, a new iPhone every year, and the rise of the zero waste movement. I really would’ve liked to extend the history through to the current era, but I decided I could get that elsewhere.

The level of detail in the early chapters was overwhelming, but I think I understand why it had to be that way - very little was written directly about waste and trash and so general statements had to be cobbled together (the author would call it bricolage) out of the little references here and there to what people did with the stuff that they threw out, and what they considered needed to be thrown out.

I waded through the early chapters a couple of pages a day, which didn’t help me get into the book. But in the end I’m glad I pushed through and tried to read in longer bouts because the chapters about the 20th century were really quite enlightening. The chapter about the Depression was my favorite, especially the details about how quilting and woodworking were not continuations of old ways so much as commercial fads, a way for consumers to spend their time well and justify that the money they were paying for kits and supplies were well spent, even frugal.

One chapter that also caught my interest was the history of menstrual products. I found it quite amusing but also worth noting that the author asserted that “few contemporary women, even dedicated environmental activists, would give up this product [sanitary pads] or its successor, the tampon, for a return to reusable rags.” (p.169) Maybe this could still be said to be true, but in my life I see more and more women looking into reusable menstrual cups, pads, and underwear as an alternative to wasteful, potentially harmful, and expensive disposable products. I kind of love that 20 years ago that was unimaginable. That tells me that in 20 more years things could be completely different than they are now, although there’s no way to tell in which ways.

This book did show me that there is no going back to how it was - the rag and bone man isn’t coming back (most of us don’t even know why the rag and bone men were picking up those items - to make paper and fertilizer, both of which are now made in very different ways), we are definitely better off not living in the kind of poverty that most people suffered through in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, even if there have been some very bad trade-offs in the process, and there is no easy universal answer to how to deal with trash because it depends on who we are and where and how we live. But I feel like I have a much fuller view of American social history and how trash has been handled through the decades that can inform how I approach my own handling of waste products.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rough one to review. It took me a while to get through, because it is quite detailed and just not very engagingly written. The book is quite old, so how we deal with trash now, and our consumer society is not discussed, but there are plenty of other books on trash nowadays.

This is the most detailed book on the beginnings of "trash" I have read, from reusing everything to sorting discarded items, etc. This background information is something I miss in the more modern books about (the history of) trash. This makes the book very useful and an important read for anyone interested in these matters, but I wish it was a little more "fun" to read.

[Ariane · Rating 2 out of 5]

professor strasser sure knows her way around original source materials. But a litany of quotes from Women's Housekeeping through the ages does not satisfying reading make.

[David Bjelland · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing about reading books that are exhaustively researched is that they're often exhausting to read, too. Waste and Want isn't exactly the environmental polemic I was hoping for ("The Way We Live Now" takes up all of three pages), but it satisfies in a history-wonk kind of way. For example, did you know during the height of the WWII campaign to encourage grassroots citizen recycling efforts, "Detroit nightclub patrons paid one old pot each to see the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee clank around in (and finally out of) a bizarre costume of aluminum kitchenware"? The ~40 page chapter on door-to-door rag recyclers of the 19th century or the section on the founding and early marketing of Kotex inspire awe at the human capacity for investigation, but like the rest of the book, they lean on primary sources more than critique, which gives the whole thing the feel more of an academic text than a popular nonfiction book. Still, for anyone who wants to ground their hopes and dreams for the future of waste management in a solid knowledge of where we've been and how we got here, definitely an enlightening book.

[Alex Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strasser's modest book is an examination into the short history of trash... which is also a history of how the image of household status became, through post-industrial capitalism, attainable for the average American family... and how that image in its purity, shed its excess into garbage bins, trash cans, landfills, and the ocean.

Strasser examines how we go to where we are with our attitudes of what is disposable, what is usable, and what is wholly taken for granted, mostly examining from the mid 1800s our attitudes towards what we consider today to be trash.

What may be surprising to many, such as I was, that as of the start of the 20th century the cycle of trash was completely different (mainly there being a cycle). One richer family's disposal was in fact "up for grabs" by an entire industry which relied on wasting as little as possible. While her detailed descriptions and references as to how people recycled, reused parts, and the importance of odds and ends (such as strings, rags, metals, and foodstuffs) is interesting I found it most compelling to see how the development of late industrial capitalism here in the United States also meant the splitting of consumer and producer ends of the cycle.

In other words, as finished material became more abundantly available, so recycling, and the industry of recycling began to disappear. This industry was previously supported by the poor and the very poor, picking through richer people's junk, selling these choice parts to junk men, who then introduced the materials back into industry by sorting and shipping back to factories. This grid of consumers feeling material back into producers did not stop even up until World War 2, as it was so prevalent.

You see the ramping up of production starting around the boom of the 1920s, when new things became more desirable as status symbols. Previously to that, things were made by engineers and mechanics, with very little attention to design and color. When the '20s hit and department stores needed to sell sell sell to survive, they pressured design into products. With this, planned obsolescence became the trend as obsolescence of style or function became inherent within the system of production. In fact, much of what was produced after the Great Depression was to replace what was already functional!

While much of whether planned obsolescence was desirable or not was debated for some time. From the side of business, waste wasn't seen as throwing away functional things... waste was seen as not buying the newest thing and allowing industry to progress!

How progress can be done through style obsolescence, isn't something that is discussed in this book, Strasser is more interested in presenting us the history, without judgement.

Today we do get a recognition that the abundance and conveyance of a throwaway society isn't necessarily a good thing. There is a funny (and sad) exchange between the mayor of New York trying to justify discarding NYC's waste in the state of Virginia and the governor of Virginia. The seeds of our recycling program come from observations of one alarmed citizen writing books in the 50s... and while recycling today is more of a moral duty than one in which we expect to get paid (as the past individuals who did recycle then), today we pay the price for our laziness and our pursuit of the image of what a perfect household should look like... the history of waste is somewhat less a history of capitalism's development as it is a history of how the image of status created the anti-septic, spotless kitchen (home) with its perfectly clean and refined interiors all made from the latest, most stylistic fashions.

I can't recommend this book as a great page turner, or a mystery novel (as we do know where we are today) but this book is definitely an interesting page turner, one which will open your eyes to seeing the very things that surround us daily -- our stuff, our junk -- and allow us a foundation to understand that life doesn't have to revolve around disposable anythings.

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me FOREVER to finish this book. It was sooooo dull in parts but I persevered just because there were sections I found fascinating. It was just way too long and read like someone's dissertation. The pages and pages on the collection and disposal of rags was enough to make me toss the book aside. But I did enjoy learning more about the development of things like feminine products and the consumer culture. Two and half stars.

[Kateryna Martynenko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Дуже безтолкова книга, дарма витратила на неї час. У різних розділах розповідається про підхід до сміття в різні періоди історії США, починаючи від 18-19 століття і до 20го. Великий мінус книги в тому, що розтягується інформація, яку можна було б подати зжато і з більшою користю. Наприклад, у розділі про 19 століття, розповідається про те, як люди повторно використовували шматки тканини і на це у автора іде сторінок 35!! І такого дуже багато. Замість того, щоб подати загальну ситуацію, автор заглиблюється в такі деталі, які середньому читачу ні до чого. В цілому, я не знайшла в цій книзі того, що сподівалася знайти.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. Thought provoking look at the anthropology of waste. My grandparents have had the same television for over 20 years; is my 4 year-old laptop really that ancient?

[Jeramey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different take on the many books about garbage I've now read. This one follows the origins of garbage and its many different uses.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strasser wants us to think about consumption through the materiality of its detritus, pointing our eyes towards the bones, leftovers, scraps, and odds and ends that emerge as reaching the limits of their own usability. But where we have drawn the line for that usability has changed dramatically over time, and that has been a historical negotiation that puts human needs and desires up against the community, nation, and environment at various moments. In this dense but very readable text, Strasser maps out the evolution of trash from the mid-19th century to the present, from the self-sufficient and frugal homestead to the era of mass production and the emergence of consumer culture, through war efforts and finally to a moment of environmental awareness. (My major critique is the very scarce attention to the parameters of environmental awareness, especially in the era of urban crowding as it then shapes a 20th c. consciousness of the relationship between waste and energy. There is not much environmental history here, and much more social history instead.) It would be interesting to read this book against Varda’s The Gleaners and I, a more agriculturally-conscientious history yet one that also, like Strasser, foregrounds the creativity required to turn trash into treasure. But perhaps that would compromise Strasser’s central thesis, that this era was one in which Americans went from being producers to consumers, and as such became much less aware & ingenious with how they designated usability. If planned obsolence of cars, appliances, and other consumer goods became what drove the 20th c. American economy, then trash and waste was the inevitable outcome of that. But how we incentive saving has everything to do with how we reframe our own necessities—and so perhaps her cynicism in thinking about a future era of recycling is warranted.

[Janet Wertman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first chapter, I was giddy. I loved the topic, the tone the everything - and I was excited about diving into it all. The reality did not quite live up to those expectations. It was a lot more detail than I wanted about subjects that were kinda tangent to the trash itself (like the history of quilts). I suspect that if the book were more recent it would be able to keep much more focused on trash itself - if only because so much has happened in the last twenty years (landfills closing...), so many attitudes and practices have changed, and all that would make for fascinating reading. A nice reward for finishing: the closing three pages went back to the philosophical and matched the excitement and promise of the first...

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually finished this book a while ago, but forgot to update.

This was a truly readable book, about the social history of trash. Trash as we know it is almost a modern kind of thing. It used to be that people did their best to use every single bit of something, because materials and money were more scarce. Particularly since the Industrial Revolution, the decision to throw things away rather than repurpose or reuse them has become the norm.

There was a lot in this book to make you think, and I feel that for anyone trying to be better about sustainability in all aspects of their lives, this would be a useful book to read.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could be kind of just a list of facts and figures and quotes at times, but many of them were really interesting and filled in a gap in my understanding of how people lived in the past. And of how the past is not really past - so much about the Depression and WW2 in this book are very resonant in 2020. The vast majority of the book is pre-WW2, though, and the 50s through 90s (when this was published) is pretty rushed. Which is too bad, as I would have loved to see more of a through-connection from the late 20th century to what things are like now.

[zeynep · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was boring and interesting at the same time. Boring because it was a lot of primary source quotes, but interesting because have you ever heard anything about 19th century recycling programs? Early history of single use sanitary pads? I absolutely can't get over people cutting pads to readjust the amount of padding and the length to suit their needs because (of course!) that's what they did before the disposable ones came out. Just fascinating material. Pretend I gave it 3.5 stars.

[greeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a long time ago and really enjoyed it. One thing I learned - among many, many things - is that keeping a family clothed was a lot of work and women used to sew ALL THE TIME when they weren't doing other things.

I find myself thinking about various tidbits from this book fairly often when I contemplate how unsustainably we live now, so it might be time for a re-read. (I'd love to read more books like this, but I don't run into them very often. Social history is fascinating.)

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was engaged by some of the core themes of this book: how we define trash, how changes in lifestyle and expectations changes how we think about waste, etc. I found the treatment, however, uneven. Strasser knows her source documents, but some areas (how many pounds of wastepaper were collected in 18__) bogged down under a weight of detail that felt unnecessary. Strasser also suggests no solutions; this book is descriptive, not prescriptive. Still, a thought-provoking angle on society and our own personal habits.

[nancy schumacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waste and want

Very detailed history of how we use and dispose of what we need to survive. I remember an exhibit in Toronto where the amount of garbage one person uses in a year was on display. Very eye opening.! As more and more people use massive amounts of goods, this problem will certainly continue.

[Christine Kenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Put into perspective how relatively new consumer culture is and some of the surprising factors which drove it. Edifying read for materialists, minimalists, zero wasters, and pretty much anyone participating in a market economy.

[Guera25 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its opening and closing sections were excellent, but the middle third or so devolved into a dry, tedious discourse on tin, rag, and paper. If you are looking for a book about the things people throw away--all the weird, wonderful, and wacky--this is not it.

[Susan Dietz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A social history of how Americans changed from a society of reuse before the twentieth century to a society of convenience and disposability. I enjoyed reflecting on what counts as trash is in the eye of the beholder and changes with space and time.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many useful topics, but some rehash of a few done elsewhere, and some missing.

[Rebecca Watts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating but got a bit difficult to finish. Perhaps it was all the talk of war propaganda that gave everyone on the home front a job to do towards the war effort during WWII.

[Amy Gourley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried with this book. I slogged through about 100 pages and it was just too dense at times.

[Rainy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off really strong, but the last few chapters were a slog to get through

[Gail Gauthier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvelous book. An example of how studying one aspect of the past can give you a grasp of what was going on with a culture.

[Sloane Ortel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional. The author explores foundational questions about our relationship to trash, and manages to blow our minds on every page.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew garbage was so fascinating?

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned some things. Some parts, such as tinkers and rag collecting and the war time collecting I did know. Other bits not so much.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash
© 2000 Susan Strasser
368 pages



Consider your trash can. In all likelihood, you cannot imagine not using it. What else would you do all with the trash generated in the course of day to day living? And yet trash cans haven't always been a fixture in our homes; until the 19th century, people invariably fond uses for whatever extraneous materials they produced, so much so that waste was an anomaly But now, disposing of it is a mammoth task, handled by the government and large corporations. In Waste and Want Susan Strasser reveals how waste rose to such heights, and despite its subject matter it manages to be charming rather than 'offal'.

Throughout most of human history, material goods have been too precious to waste. Every article represented hours of hard labor, where that work was invested in the sewing of clothing, the milking of cows, or the manufacture of pottery. Economy forced prudence, not to mention self-reliance: people made their own candles out of cooking fat because they needed candles, and like all skill made objects they were not easy to come by, being either rare or expensive. If an item broke, it was repaired; if beyond repair, it was put to future use. Clothes were extensively modified to extend their lives, and passed down through the generations (as were most household items). Cloth remains too small to be used in clothing could be sewn into quilts. Food scraps were fed to animals, who converted refuse into more food -- and if nothing else, the items were burned as fuel in the family hearth. Even if a given family didn’t possess all the skills and time required to recapture the value of every scrap, local economies thrived on communal recycling. But all that changed with industrialization.

Although the first factories, like paper mills, inserted themselves into the garbage cycle seamlessly -- using refuse like rags to produce paper -- soon the industrial process broke a circle of endless reuse to the one-directional “waste stream”, the stream that has turned into a torrent by the 21st century and is fast filling up landfills, incinerators, and the open ocean. This disruption began as industrialization became increasingly efficient through economies of scale: large operations that relied on waste for their manufacturing (like the paper mills) demanded too much to be satisfied by communities: instead, they had to be fed by other factories, and the trash of the common people fond itself without an outlet. Transformations in the home (like gas stoves) removed the use of garbage as fuel. Factories also made consumer goods cheaply: as they became abundant, they lost value. Why repair when you can replace? In the 20th century, companies seized on that idea and encouraged it, first through changes in fashion (cars replaced by new models every year, the only real distinction being aesthetics), and then through Planned Obsolescence, wherein items were manufactured with the intent of their breaking down within a relatively short time frame and requiring replacement. (They could be repaired, at first, but then someone hit on the bright idea of engineering every part in a given machine so that they would all begin breaking down at roughly the same time…)

The results? Trash -- lots of it. Dealing with the trash has required new technologies and systems of organization to cope with it. The pressing demand for waste management is mitigated (ever so much) by recycling, but our pitiful attempts at reusing resources are nothing like those our ancestors managed. Recycling is a meager flame overwhelmed by the mighty ocean of garbage that consumerism encourages and our economy relies on. The amount of waste necessitated by modern life is staggering: next time you visit a grocery store or supermarket, consider how almost every item in the store comes in a cardboard box, and inside it may be goods wrapped in plastic. We cannot possibly find uses for so many boxes, and what on earth would we do with even one ice-cream wrapper, let alone the dozens or hundreds we are liable to rip off in a year?

Waste and Want is a fantastic little bit of history and indirect social criticism. While garbage is on the cover, it’s really a history of us, of how we relate to the world through our use of its material resources and how that has changed. It’s a fun read, sure, but by its end one can’t help but be impressed by the fact that waste is an issue we must think about. Environmentalism aside: in this era of austerity, how can we possibly justify throwing way so many resources and even consuming more resources to manage the waste? It behooves us to act more responsibly, and as the 21st century progresses I can only hope that our worsening economic condition will force a rebirth the prudence of our forebears.

[Lies · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Fundamenteel voor afval als historische onderzoeksfocus maar sindsdien meer over geschreven (Gay Hawins bijv) op uitgebreidere manieren etc)