How do we decide what is junk?
From burnt toast to a spam email, from a used tissue to a used car, daily human life requires throwing things way that are no longer useful to us. While what we throw away might be 'out of sight, out of mind', our rubbish footprint continues a life of its own.
UK researcher John Scanlan is fascinated by the idea of waste and has written two books on the subject, his latest The Idea of Waste explores how we have grappled with both the material reality and the spectre of this shape-shifting phenomenon throughout history.
He joins Emile Donovan.
John Scanlan, the author of 'The Idea of Waste', is a research fellow at the University of Central Lancashire. Photo: Supplied
