Listen: What the history of trash says about today’s culture

In a new podcast episode, an expert digs into what our trash problem says about our culture.

Every day, we throw things away, only to be forgotten forever. But society didn’t always work in the same way.

In this episode of the Big Brains podcast, University of Chicago scholar and anthropologist Sarah Newman discusses her book, Unmaking Waste: New Histories of Old Things (University of Chicago Press, 2026).

An archaeologist by training, Newman discusses the history of trash across time—from the ancient Mayan civilization through today’s disposable culture.

She argues that other societies valued objects much more deeply, reusing and recycling items in innovative ways. But will we ever return to this kind of zero-waste mentality?

Newman argues that true sustainability requires a radical, systemic overhaul of how products are designed, valued, and dismantled.

She challenges us to look beyond the recycling bin and imagine a world where waste isn’t just managed, but systematically unmade if we are to genuinely rethink our relationship with garbage and reshape our future.

Source: University of Chicago

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