What a Waste! answers the question: when we throw something away, where is away ? Ever since cave people cracked open seafood shells for dinner, humans have produced garbage, and we ve had to figure out what to do with it. What a Waste! explores the history of garbage from earliest times to today, covering subjects including dumps, human waste, water pollution, problem garbage, and modern throwaway culture. From islands made out of 5,000-year-old garbage in the Florida Everglades and sophisticated waste-disposal systems in ancient Pakistan to fatbergs the size of a city bus in sewers today, What a Waste! delves into the fascinating, weird, and often disgusting world of garbage, and shows why it s a growing problem.