Returning: War on Waste

War on Waste returns to ABC for its third season with host Craig Reucassel in late July.

Since the first series of ’War on Waste’ six years ago, there’s been a revolution in our thinking on waste.

Families, schools, universities, businesses, and governments have sought to make changes. Our big supermarkets have zero food waste targets, and major companies are advertising their use of recycled content. Some councils have rolled out food recycling. State Governments have brought in plastic bag bans and have committed to eventually banning single-use plastics altogether.

But how much of this is just a press release and how much is real?
● How is it that we’re now sending more waste overseas despite the export bans?
● Why are Australians wasting more money than ever on the food they throw out?
● Why are we still one of the highest consumers of textiles per person in the world?
● And what are the next big steps we need to take as a nation to genuinely solve our still growing waste problems?

Six years since the first ‘War on Waste’ this new three-part series will reveal the truth behind the spin. We’ll answer your most-asked questions about what to do with waste at home and provide straightforward solutions we can all implement to stem the waste tide.

Once again at the helm, passionate planet advocate and prankster Craig Reucassel will look at the mindset change we need to fix the problems.

He’ll set new challenges for corporations, councils and communities that’ll be followed up throughout the series. Learning from the past that little changes can add up to big wins, he’ll conscript entire neighbourhoods as part of a plastic and waste audit, to vividly highlight the problems lurking in our very own homes.

He’ll set-up new public stunts to show the impact of our consumer habits and go undercover with GPS trackers to find out where much of our waste is really going.

Among new waste topics, he’ll investigate the impact of microplastics on our health, and undergo scientific testing to learn the shocking truth about the amount of plastic that’s inside us. He’ll reveal the devastating environmental impact of our obsession with fast fashion; discover the link between food waste and climate change; and seek solutions for the current crisis in soft plastics recycling.

On the flip side, he’ll meet the waste warriors who are rethinking the future of global waste issues, with innovative recycling solutions for our plastic, food, and fashion waste.

As we emerge from the pandemic, have we become a better – or worse – waste nation? Have our governments caught up to community attitudes? And what more can all of us be doing?

Production credit: A Lune Media Australia Production for ABC. Principal production investment from Screen Australia and ABC. Financed with support from Screen NSW. Director Jodi Boylan. Executive Producers: Jodi Boylan, David Galloway and Leonie Lowe. ABC Acting Head, Factual and Culture Richard Huddleston and Commissioning Editor, Factual Stephen Oliver.

Tuesday 25 July at 8.30pm on ABC.