Aarva

The Atlantic ·For the curious

A Close-Up Look at the Waste of Modern Life

by Lily Meyer

Published 2026-06-18 07:30:00-04:00

If a society treats its objects as disposable, does it eventually view its workers the same way?

0:00 / 11:17 · Narrator Gacrux

Context

Published on 18 June 2026, this reflection on Simon Paré-Poupart’s memoir looks at the friction between a society that consumes without limit and the workers who handle the fallout. The piece considers why the labor of waste collection remains largely invisible and how the act of tidying up actually helps people forget their own excess. By viewing the job from both a sociological and a physical angle, it offers a clear-eyed perspective on the toll of a culture built on same-day delivery and disposable goods.

Show notes

An examination of Simon Paré-Poupart’s memoir, Trash!, which chronicles his dual life as a Montreal sanitation worker and a sociologist. The analysis details the physical toll of waste collection and the systemic invisibility of the workers who manage the excesses of contemporary consumer culture. It combines first-hand accounts of manual labor with sociological theory to evaluate the environmental and human costs of a society built on disposability.

Read on The Atlantic →