{"product_id":"for-what-its-worth-pierce-jumper-9798180742360","title":"For What It's Worth: Where Recycling Came From And How it Really Works","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEverything you were taught about recycling is only half the story.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost books about recycling want you to feel something - guilty, hopeful, alarmed. This one wants something rarer: for you to understand what's actually true.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFor What It's Worth\u003c\/i\u003e traces the real history of recycling across three thousand years - from Bronze Age metalworkers and Roman builders to Victorian London's \"dust-yards,\" the salvage drives of two world wars, the birth of the famous recycling symbol in 1970, the wandering garbage barge that kicked off the modern recycling boom, and the day in 2018 when China stopped accepting the world's waste and broke the system overnight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong the way it answers the questions curious readers actually ask: Where does it all really go? Why does aluminum recycle beautifully while plastic barely recycles at all? Who decided \u003ci\u003eyou\u003c\/i\u003e should feel responsible for the trash - and is that fair? And the big one: does recycling even work?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn that last question - and the other genuinely unsettled ones - the book does something unusual. It lays out the strongest case on each side, names who argues what, and then stops, handing the judgment to the reader. No slogans. No villains. No telling you what to think.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten in clear, fact-grounded prose for readers aged 11 to 14 (and the adults who end up borrowing it), \u003ci\u003eFor What It's Worth\u003c\/i\u003e treats young people as capable thinkers who deserve the whole story. It's a history, a science explainer, and a quiet lesson in weighing evidence - disguised as a book about garbage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy the last page, you'll know more about this small, strange, surprisingly important subject than almost anyone you know. What you decide to make of it is entirely up to you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Pierce Jumper\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798180742360\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/09\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 156\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.43lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.39d","brand":"Pierce Jumper","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50665707045119,"sku":"9798180742360","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/for-what-its-worth-pierce-jumper-9798180742360","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}