The need for more and better recycling is more urgent than ever. Not least because Britain is due to run out of landfill space by 2024. ibid.
We uncover a vast hidden world of waste. And we meet the army of workers on the front line clearing up after us day in day out from everyday scraps to radical recycling. The war against our trash never ends. The Secret World of Your Rubbish s1e3
Britain is due to run out of landfill space by 2024. ibid.
There are over forty energy-from-waste facilities in the UK, a fifty per cent rise in the last five years. ibid.
The British waste industry turns over £9 billion a year and employs 70,000 people. But work on the tugboats is not for the fainthearted. ibid.
Globally, we throw ou two billion tons of rubbish every year. And we in the UK are all responsible for sustaining this tsunami of trash. Our endless consumption means the average British family creates over one ton of junk a year. But it’s not just the stuff that we buy that’s the problem; everything we do creates a rubbish footprint. The Secret World of Your Rubbish s2e1, Channel 5 2020
The Government’s taxes are also putting pressure on the family’s business. It’s increasingly expensive for local authorities and companies to have their rubbish buried. And they want cheaper and greener alternatives. ibid.
Next door to Twickenham’s iconic rugby stadium, Mogden sewage treatment works is one of the UK’s largest. ibid.
Every time we switch on an appliance or light, we have a hand in creating the most dangerous rubbish on Earth. About 21% of the electricity we use in the UK comes from nuclear power stations. But nuclear power produces nuclear waste. The Secret World of Your Rubbish s2e2
Nuclear waste is just one of the many streams of rubbish we all generate without realising it. ibid.
Every year the average Brit personally generates four hundreds kilograms in rubbish … enough to fill the Albert Hall every two hours. Currently, around 12% of our waste ends up in landfill, but landfill use is in decline due to the increased landfill taxes and environmental concerns. The Secret World of Your Rubbish s2e3
There are 48 operational energy-and-waste facilities in the UK and 10 more currently under construction. ibid.
In the UK we now burn more waste than we recycle or send to landfill. ibid.
Many of the clothes we trash are perfectly wearable. ibid.
‘Eventually we’re going to be in a sea of rubbish, aren’t we?’ ibid. e-rubbish recycler
London’s underground sewer network stretches for an incredible 109,000 kilometres. ibid.
87% of Brits believe we should take responsibility for recycling. The Secret World of Your Rubbish s2e4
Glass: it never loses its quality or purity no matter how many times it’s recycled. The average UK family uses 500 glass bottles and jars every year. And we manage to recycle 67% of it. ibid.
We Brits generate over one and half million tons of plastic waste, much of which ends up buried in landfill or being burned from energy and waste plants. ibid.
Every year more than twenty-eight billion glass bottles and jars end up in the nation’s landfills. ibid.
Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it. Ralph Waldo Emerson
As a planet we’re throwing away more than ever before. And here in California it’s the front line in the global war on waste. Welcome to the mega-landfill, one of the biggest destinations for our trash in the world. Secrets of the Mega-Landfill, Channel 5 2020
A million bin-bags of rubbish every day. ibid.
Tonight: turning the tide of plastic waste. Cashing in on what we throw away. How easy is it to get recycling right? And could we live without plastic entirely? Tonight: Plastic: Can You Live Without It? ITV 2018
Plastic waste is polluting our planet’s rivers and oceans. ibid.
We recycle less than half of all of the different types of plastic we use. ibid.
Black plastic is a bit of an issue. ibid.
What’s going on with our waste? Why are parts of the country being used as a dumping ground for rubbish? What impact is our waste having? And do you know what you can and cannot recycle? Tonight: Rubbish: Britain’s Tipping Point, ITV 2019
Birmingham: A series of strikes by bin collectors and more walk-outs in December have again led to rubbish piled up in the streets. ibid.
Black plastic packaging is one of the biggest problems. ibid.
Much of our plastic waste ends up in countries in east Asia like Indonesia. ibid.
Britain’s filthy streets. The worrying rise in pandemic plastic. The foulest waste under our feet. And cleaning up the next generation … Every day it’s estimated that over two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK. And street cleaning costs the taxpayer more than one billion pounds annually. Tonight: Britain’s Filthy Streets, ITV 2021
Stalks flock to landfill sites across Europe. Cities: Nature’s New Wild I: Residents, BBC 2018
The capital of Ghana but local residents have given it a nickname: Sodom & Gomorrah. It’s the home of the biggest electronic waste dump and is a livelihood for many. First it feeds them, then it kills them. This is one of the most polluted areas with toxins and toxic metals on the African continent. ToxiCity: The Story of a Graveyard for Electronics … and People, RT 2017
‘Small children also work here. Some don’t have parents.’ ibid. local
Electronic waste comes to Ghana from the USA, Australia, Western Europe and Asia to the tune of hundreds of tons a year. ibid.
This is not a natural hill. It’s made from rubbish. It’s a landfill site. Spread across the UK are more than twenty thousand like it and they’re growing. Each year we bury over twelve million tons of household waste. The Secret Life of Landfill: A Rubbish History, BBC 2018
There’s constant risk of a methane explosion or fire on a landfill site. ibid.
So even though rubbish was landfilled here in the 1980s with all the best intentions of keeping it safe, no-one imagined that so little of it would degrade or that a toxic by-product leachate would still be leaching out of it thirty years later. ibid.
Metal is one of the greatest treasures in landfill. ibid.
The rubbish has been mixing with the oil to create toxic waste. Adnan Sarwar, Journey in the Danger Zone: Iraq, BBC 2018
They say to understand a person you have to walk a mile in their shoes. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Ghana is the country where my parents were born … I’m about to spend a week living and working in one of the most polluted environments on the planet – Ghana’s notorious waste dump – Agbodbloshie. The Insider: Reggie Yates, BBC 2017
It’s an e-dump, predominantly electronic waste … This is where technology does to die. ibid.
80,000 people call home, and where conditions are so brutal many people die in the twenties. ibid.
Planned obsolescence produces a constant stream of waste which is shipped to third-world countries. The Lightbulb Conspiracy, 2010
It is more expensive to recycle than it is to landfill. Daniel Benjamin
Just plain bullshit. Penn & Teller Bullshit! s2e5: Recycling, Showtime 2004
It just seems like the thing to do. ibid.
Does it save energy? No … Sorting, storing and cleaning ... It takes more energy to recycle a plastic bottle than to make a new one. ibid.
It costs you eight billion dollars a year. ibid.
Cans ... There is real money in aluminium. ibid.
Recycling paper is bad for the environment. Recycling is a manufacturing process. ibid.
Americans make about 200 million tons of rubbish a year. ibid.
We have three times more trees today than we did in 1920. ibid.