Here are some books and websites that are helpful in thinking about the array of issues associated with disposability.

Charlene Cerny and Suzanne Seriff, eds. Recycled Re-Seen: Folk Art from the Global Scrap Heap.  New York: Harry N. Abrams and the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM: 1996.  This is the catalog of a pioneering exhibition exploring the ways that the world’s poor use rubbish, from oil cans to plastic baby dolls, to create art.

Daniel Imhoff.  Paper or Plastic: Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World.  San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2005.  This book sets out the problem and offers case studies  of innovators.

The League of Women Voters. The Plastic Waste Primer: A Handbook for Citizens. Washington, D.C.: The League of Women Voters Education Fund, 1993. This book is an oldie but a goodie, laying out the issues and avenues for actions with brevity and clarity.

Thomas Thwaites. The Toaster Project, or a Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch.  New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011.  This book is hilarious and thought-provoking, as our hero attempts to produce the materials needed to build a modern, unrepairable toaster.

My Plastic Free Life is a fascinating and useful blog about two things: the complicated consequences of using plastic, especially packaging, and strategies we all can use to reduce plastic in the environment. Click here to view My Plastic Free Life.