All That Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff

All that trash tells the story of the 1987 Garbage Barge that traveled from New York halfway around the US. Lowell Harrelson rented a barge, the Mobro 4000, and took 1386 tons of trash from the New York landfill, that was dangerously full. His crew sailed the tugboat that pulled the barge with the trash that he was hoping to dump in North Carolina to turn his big idea of burning methane gas to create energy. Unfortunately, North Carolina and many other places didn’t want his trash and the barge kept floating around the waters. More and more People grew aware of the floating trash which got nastier and nastier by the day. Greenpeace even got involved and raised awareness for recycling by hanging a banner on the ship that said: “Next TIME TRY RECYCLING“! Finally, a judge ruled the trash to be burned and 1386 tons of trash turned into 400 tons of ash. I liked this book because it’s an important story that explains the reason why people need to recycle. We all need to recycle, reuse, and reduce the trash we create daily. I also liked that this was a true story and the extra information about the event in the back. This is a great read-aloud for anytime or any kids ages 7 and up.