This is an incredibly detailed look into the author’s attempt to live without creating trash during the covid 19 pandemic. Its clear the author conducted an incredible amount of research as much of the book is thoroughly explained and described.

This was an interesting telling of a change that many people are trying to take on. The honesty around failure and the impact of the pandemic was refreshing. Many approaches to telling this story can end up preaching rather than encouraging - this book kept a good balance between encouragement to do better and reflection on how the author and family could do better.

I greatly enjoyed reading Year of No Garbage by Eve O. Schaub. I have read her other books and they are informative, well-written and her sense of humor a delight. Going "zero waste" is next to impossible, but Schaub and her family are (mostly) willing to give it a shot. It didn't help that the challenge happened during COVID lockdown and yet she and her family continued to do their very best. I hope this book is inspiring to others who want to lower their waste and research better ways to help save Mother Earth through refusing, reusing, recycling, etc. It doesn't take someone doing things perfectly, but it takes someone doing them, even a little bit, imperfectly to make a difference!

Schaub and her somewhat willing family embark on another year of pseudo-sacrificial living in "Year of No Garbage: Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems, and One Woman’s Trashy Journey to Zero Waste" (Skyhorse, 2023).

Prior books, "Year of No Sugar" and "Year of No Clutter," laid Schaub’s groundwork for annual challenges that correlated to her biopsychosocial sweet spots, and her interest in better health and living for her family. Their participation broadens her perspective in "Year of No Garbage" to include those of her college-age kid, school-age child, and husband.

Aside from insightful observations about recycling (including the fiction we’ve all been fed), high financial and time investments to reduce trash, and the limited solutions, Schaub provides more details about United States trash production (and ingestion…bleck!) than I have read collected in one place. Additionally, her approachable writing style and practical adjustments to her “no garbage” rules (toilet paper, for example) throughout the year read authentically.

Thank you to the author, Skyhorse, and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

Stunning. Also, horrifying. I loved reading this book and learned so much in these pages. It opened my eyes—taught me to see things for what they are and approach life more thoughtfully. Schaub is witty and brilliant as she tackles this heavy topic. Admittedly, garbage is an unusual topic for a memoir, but as far as memoirs go, this one is one of my favorites.

In this book, Schaub recounts her family’s zero waste attempt and shares the many obstacles that she encountered along the way. It sounds discouraging to put it like that, but honestly, I felt so encouraged and empowered as I read this book. As someone who cares deeply about being responsible with the piece of earth that I call mine, Schaub’s transparency and humor felt welcoming and familial.

I know going waste free isn’t something everyone cares about, but this book does a lot of the heavy lifting and provides some practical ideas for how to reduce your waste and look for solutions. Of course, it is primarily a memoir, but I had so many takeaways. This book is a gem, and I hope so many people read it and take action.

Thank you to NetGalley, Skyhorse Publishing, and Eve O. Schaub for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for a review. I loved it.

Great description of Eve's journey toward a garbage free life with lots of useful suggestions for ways to reduce waste in my own life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found Year of No Garbage by Eve O. Schaub to be a very accessible and informative book that explored the recycling and garbage disposal systems in the US.

The set up of the book is to follow Eve and her family as they seek to eliminate their garbage for a full year. Because of this set up, I found the information and tone of the novel to be very approachable. Since Eve wasn't already an expert on these topics, the reader was able to follow along in her process of encountering various items that she would normally throw away and finding a way to reuse or recycle rather than trash them. I found Eve's voice throughout the book to be entertaining despite the serious topic, which I think is important for reaching a wider audience with this type of important education.

I learned a lot from the book, and I think it was an entertaining and important read. I also loved how Eve was reasonable in her measures to reduce garbage and plastic use (for example: she drew a line at using reusable, washable toilet "paper" and rather went with a sustainable bamboo option instead). Many of her measures felt manageable and easy to implement.

The book was a downer, particularly by the end when you've learned that there is no great solution in the current climate. However, I appreciated Schaub's willingness to turn towards optimism to encourage people to make positive change while not shying away from the realities of the situation.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book, and I'm interested in checking out Schaub's other books!

Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinions!

Most trash is, one way or another, plastic.

Most plastic, even if it can be recycled now, will eventually end up in a landfill...

...and plastic is *everywhere*.

When Schaub started her Year of No Garbage in 2020—following up on her Year of No Sugar and Year of No Clutter—she thought it would be pretty straightforward: shop less at big groceries and more at smaller stores; eschew plastic wrap; experiment with alternatives to mainstream toothpaste (since the tubes aren't recyclable) and with more sustainable period products. But she got more than she bargained for: not only did 2020 turn out to be...2020...but the deeper she dug into the recycling pile, the more she found that "it's recyclable" is not the solution one would hope. As the year wore on, Schaub's goal became less to reduce her unrecyclable trash to an amount that could be stored in a glass jar and more to figure out just where the (washed, sorted) plastic piling up in her kitchen would all end up.

This feels like a much more honest book than many of the no-trash journeys I've read about—because Schaub *couldn't* reduce her waste to a glass jar, not once she figured out what it does, and doesn't, mean for something to be "recyclable" or "compostable." It forces you to look at your grocery basket (plastic) and everything in it: plastic packaging, plastic stickers, plastic netting. Or to reach out and see what you can touch that has plastic: my computer and e-reader and the cables that connect them; the buttons on my cardigan; my synthetic shirt; a pen and earbuds and the cover of a notebook and wrappings on greeting cards and on a pack of tissues.

I did sort of lose steam around the halfway point, when it was clear that the problem was going to boil down to "plastic plastic plastic" and there wasn't a way to fix it, just to dig deeper into how big the problem is. (I can only imagine how much faster I would have run out of steam if I'd been actually living it rather than reading it!) Still, this ended up being a better fit for me than "Year of No Sugar"...and I'm curious to see how long Schaub's promise to her family that this was the last project will last.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

I've previously read 'Year of No Clutter' Shaub's second book, and loved it. So I was really happy to be able to read the digital ARC for this book.

I really enjoyed it. I think that Schaub is a really funny writer, and I can really feel her wins, her frustrations and others emotions through the pages.

I've read soo many books about about low-impact/zero waste living by people that make their whole careers around the topic. I definitely learnt more on the topic of recycling from this book than most. Also this book doesn't waste pages giving instructions on how to make DIY cleaners, or moisturizers (a personal pet peeve of every low waste book).

I would definitely recommend if you are interested in reading a relatable experience of someone trying to reduce their waste and learn a bit more about the whole waste system at the same time.

I loved Year of No Sugar by Schaub even though I'm not aspiring to the goal. However, Year of No Garbage had me intrigued. I learned there's a small problem.

This is impossible in the lives we live. And Schaub doesn't skirt over that fact. Don't let the title fool you -- this isn't a mission to convert people to live without trash. It's more of a commentary on just how difficult no garbage accumulation is. It's damned if you do and damned if you don't when it comes to recycling and reusing. Our government's lack of common sense regulation and the costs of recycling stands in the way of our mission to better this Earth. Many plastics (there are over thousands of types Schaub educates us, cannot be recycled). And that's plain sad.

Well researched and thought out. And that's not garbage talk.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me access.

Year of No Garbage documents Schaub and her family's attempt at living in modern America without creating any landfill trash (basically her focus is on not throwing out any plastic waste whatsoever) for a year. I was particularly interested in the fact that this experiment coincided with the COVID lockdowns, so it also explores living waste free during a pandemic. For obvious reasons the book takes a US-centric approach.

I was impressed at the depth of research in this book. It's immensely depressing as a read, but also incredibly eye-opening. I have so much respect for the author for making it clear personal actions are simply not enough. I think a lot of aesthetic zero wasters online over-emphasise individual importance, and never mention that solutions need to come at government level, through legislation to curb the fossil fuel industries. I thought it was excellent how the author takes the time to explore the intersections of racism, poverty, and health inequality embedded in the plastic waste issue. This is definitely a book worth reading.

I do have a criticism, which is that the author seemed to sneer at veganism quite a few times, seemingly because "but I could never live without cheese". My understanding is that after flying and having fewer or no children, going vegan is right up there among the most impactful things any individual can do to contribute to not worsening the climate crisis. So I didn't like how the author falls into that common trap of zero wasters who aren't vegan acting like buying zero waste alternatives "off-sets" their meat consumption. It doesn't. With that said, I think the most powerful line in the book is "the most environmentally friendly purchase is the one you don't make." Good stuff.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. I enjoyed the personal journey of Eve’s journey to a garbage free life. I will use some of these recommendations in reducing my own waste.

A great book but kind of depressing. Not in any way is it Eve’s fault but just how much work and money it can be to try and be responsible and do the right thing. Some things I found it hard to relate to because it was, at times, specific to her part of the country. But then again I found it relatable when the other day I was cooking with green onions and removed the elastic and the attached sticker. I thought of Eve repurposing those tiny elastics. I try to be a recycler as much as I can but this book opened my eyes with ways I need to do more

Interesting book. Wealth of information.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.