I published my first book, Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade. In it, I followed U.S. recyclables like cardboard, shredded automobiles, and Christmas lights around the world, primarily to China, and argued that “if what you toss into your recycling bin can be used in some way, the international scrap recycling business will manage to deliver it to the person or company who can do so most profitably.”
