What happens once something has lost its value to us? Where does our waste end up? Who makes a livelihood from it? And who bears the risks? The latest issue of The Magazine of the Century focuses on “Trash”, responsibility and the question of what can and cannot be recycled. Five reports in which we immerse ourselves in today’s trash culture, follow our personal trail of rubbish, track electronic waste, and even venture to depths where munitions lie submerged and, deeper yet, where radioactive waste will one day be disposed of.
Give us this day our daily bread – no, make it a double burger instead
By Michèle Roten
Energy drinks, fast food, reality TV, binge-scrolling: what happens if you spend an entire day consuming nothing but trash?
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A lifetime of rubbish
By Florian Leu
What remains of a life? Among other things: towers of chewing gum, rows of toothpaste tubes, a trail of tyre wear as well as ubiquitous microplastics and forever chemicals.
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Accra speaking
By Sebastian Sele
What happens to our old mobile phones, laptops and televisions? They will almost certainly end up in Ghana sooner or later, where traders, repair technicians and scrap collectors attempt to breathe new life into Europe’s electronic waste.
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Ticking time bomb in the Baltic Sea
By Elisabeth Krainer
Traditional canopied beach chairs, kitesurfers, the idyllic Baltic Sea – and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of explosives lurking at the bottom of the sea. What will happen once the munitions dumped in the aftermath of the Second World War gradually rust away?
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Second chance
By Michèle Roten
Spent fuel rods still contain vast amounts of energy. Why do we dispose of them deep below ground instead of recycling them? And could the future hold a better alternative?
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