Humans and trash have a long and intimate relationship. Based on our production and handling of waste, Roman Köster has written an illuminating history of our species, showing how life with waste has changed from the time humans settled down to the present day.

Waste is generally seen as a problem of consumption, and many public debates centre on waste sorting as a downstream problem. Roman Köster’s great achievement is in describing the production of waste as a problem intrinsic to our economy – “our daily way of life”. His analysis of the history of the creation of waste and its connection to the capitalist economy is easily comprehensible and supported by clear examples. The solution he offers is what what we all suspect: namely, that we cannot maintain the speed of economic life and our own convenience in its present-day form if we want to tackle the problem of waste as part of the current anthropogenic climate change.

Roman Köster is a research assistant on the Historical Committee at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and did his post-doctoral qualification on German waste management after World War II. His book “Hugo Boss, 1924–1945” (2005) is also published by C.H.Beck.