Recycling: Meeting the Challenge of the Trash Crisis - Hardcover

Alvin Silverstein; Virginia Silverstein; Robert Silverstein

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399221905 ISBN 13: 9780399221903

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile, 1992

Synopsis

Explores some of the ways in which recycling can help solve the increasing trash problem with explanations of the programs that have already been set up, as well as promising ideas for the future.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-8-- Succinct coverage of the nature of, need for, techniques, and problems of recycling. Writing in their usual flowing style, and including a few specific incidents to draw and maintain interest, the Silversteins have created a solid introduction to the subject. Beginning with the thought-provoking image of Earth as a spaceship that cannot afford to throw away its resources, they show how nature recycles and why people stopped doing it; present abundant evidence of the resulting ``trash crisis''; and name a major villain, an industry-oriented economic system that uses production and sales as measures of success. The authors close with numerous actions for readers to consider, with addresses of organizations, mostly in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas. Well-chosen black-and-white photographs, plus a few diagrams, illustrate the text; also included is a list of further reading (updated through 1990). This could become the standard on the subject--if so many titles didn't already have an edge. Stefoff's Recycling (Chelsea, 1991) is similar in style and content; Foster's Cartons, Cans and Orange Peels (Clarion, 1991) is somewhat more livelier and has numerous full-color photos. The current standard work, Pringle's Throwing Things Away (Crowell, 1986), is out of date. --Jonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Edmonds, WA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A pedestrian look at where garbage comes from and where it goes, without the depth or balance of Lee's The Throwaway Society (1990) or the pizzazz of Gibbons's easier, visually appealing Recycle! (p. 393). The Silversteins discuss recycling in nature; food chains and food webs; the search for trash solutions; recycling problems; what readers can do; and the future. But there are some weak generalities (``As recycling gains popularity it will become more widespread, easier, and more efficient''), and sections on unique recycling processes are too brief--readers intrigued by ``vacuum pyrolysis'' or the ``plasma arc furnace'' will have to look elsewhere for full descriptions; and some may wonder what a ``catch-22 situation'' is. Not the Silversteins' best effort. Brief glossary; organizations to write for information; further reading. Index and photos not seen. (Nonfiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0399221905
• ISBN 13: 9780399221903
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 105