The ABC’s groundbreaking series, War on Waste is set to be reprised after a six-year hiatus.
The series, helmed by the unyielding eco-warrior and prankster, Craig Reucassel, aims to highlight the nation’s escalating waste issues and propose solutions for a more sustainable future.
Since the inception of the original series, the nation has witnessed a paradigm shift in attitudes towards waste. Households, educational institutions, corporates, and governmental bodies alike have striven to institute changes. Supermarket giants have pledged zero food waste, while numerous enterprises have been vocal about their incorporation of recycled materials.
Local councils have initiated food recycling programs, and state governments have enforced plastic bag prohibitions and committed to phasing out single-use plastics. However, the authenticity of these claims remains questionable. Is this a genuine commitment to sustainability or merely a façade of public relations?
Despite export bans, Australia appears to be exporting more waste than ever. Australians are incurring increasing monetary losses due to wasted food. Moreover, Australia continues to rank as one of the globe’s highest per capita consumers of textiles.
The three-part series will seek to answer these pressing questions and more. The show promises to offer pragmatic solutions to everyday waste dilemmas, with Reucassel leading the charge to inspire a change in mindset.
In a bid to illuminate the lurking waste problems in our homes, Reucassel will enlist entire neighbourhoods for plastic and waste audits. He will devise public stunts to exhibit the ramifications of our consumer habits and employ GPS tracking to uncover the true destinations of our waste.
The series will probe into the health impacts of microplastics, demonstrating the unsettling truth about the quantity of plastic inhabiting our bodies. The detrimental environmental consequences of our fast fashion obsession will be laid bare, alongside an exploration of the connection between food waste and climate change. The show will also address the ongoing crisis in soft plastics recycling.
On a positive note, Reucassel will introduce us to the ‘waste warriors’ – innovative thinkers who are reimagining the future of global waste issues and pioneering recycling solutions for our plastic, food, and fashion waste.
As Australia emerges from the grip of the pandemic, it begs the question: Has our waste management improved or worsened? Has the government’s stance on waste evolved in tandem with community attitudes? And what more can each of us do to contribute?
The series, a Lune Media Australia Production for ABC, is funded by Screen Australia and ABC, with additional support from Screen NSW. It is directed by Jodi Boylan, with Boylan, David Galloway, and Leonie Lowe serving as executive producers. The ABC Factual and Culture department, headed by Richard Huddleston, and the Commissioning Editor, Stephen Oliver, have commissioned the project.
