© ATOM 2017

A STUDY GUIDE BY MARGUERITE O’HARA

http://www.metromagazine.com.au
© ATOM 2017

ISBN: 978-1-76061-082-2 http://theeducationshop.com.au 1

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WE’RE AMONGST SOME OF THE

MOST WASTEFUL COUNTRIES
IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD.

AUSTRALIAN HOUSEHOLDS
AND BUSINESSES THROW OUT
3.3 MILLION TONNES OF FOOD
ANNUALLY, ENOUGH TO FILL
THE MCG SIX TIMES OVER.

BUT…BACK IN THE
1960S WE PIONEERED
RECYCLING PROGRAMS.
© ATOM 2017

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A STUDY GUIDE

GUIDE OUTLINE
Part 1:
Introductory Material - Overview,
Curriculum Guidelines, Introductory
material about the presenter and the
series, Vocabulary, Pre-viewing questions.

Part 2:
Episode 1 viewing and responding,
Episode 2 viewing and responding,
Episode 3 viewing and responding

Part 3:
Post-viewing questions and activities for
research and extending the study
© ATOM 2017

Part 4:
References and Resources
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Craig Reucassel is on a mission to uncover how much CURRICULUM GUIDELINES

waste we produce as a nation and to learn how, together,
we can all do something about it, when he presents this War on Waste would be an excellent program to show
thought-provoking three-part documentary series War on students from middle primary to upper secondary – levels
Waste. 4 – 12. Waste/rubbish/trash/garbage is something that is
everywhere. While some students may respond to the ma-
No stranger to confrontation, over the series Craig takes terial in all three episodes, for years 4 – 8, episodes 1 and
on the big supermarkets, challenges Australians to reduce 2 may be more engaging and directly relevant to younger
their waste, discovers what really happens to our recy- students than episode 3 which is focused principally on
cling, and uncovers some shocking truths about Australia’s ‘fast’ fashion and coffee cups as generators of waste.
wasteful fashion industry.
We all contribute to our wasteful society as we all buy
Can we, as a nation, force big businesses to waste less? and throw stuff away quite regularly, whether this is food,
Can we all do a little bit better? clothes, disposable coffee cups, water and other drink bot-
tles, electronic gear such as phones, computers, televi-
In the 1960s many recycling programs – especially those sions, printers, juicers and many other household appli-
involving paper and newspaper – were pioneered in ances… as well as the endless plastic packaging and bags
Australia. In the late 60s and 70s, the launch of the Keep that are a major waste problem. ‘It costs too much to fix
Australia Beautiful campaign put the issue of waste at the so let’s buy another one’.
forefront of the national consciousness.
Many students may be members of school communities
But in recent decades, the combined effects of consumer that are already encouraging active awareness of waste
demand, supermarket policies and cynicism about the ef- and the need to recycle waste materials, while others may
fectiveness of waste and recycling campaigns has seen a also belong to households that encourage family members
surge in the volume of waste we produce as a nation. to be careful about what they buy and what they do with
the waste their household generates.
Craig takes a critical and first-hand look at household,
retail and farming waste in Australia and asks what has But, as consuming, rejecting and throwing away are
changed in the Australian psyche, and in our consumer increasingly taken for granted as part of 21st century
culture that has led us to become among the most life, this program shows us where all this stuff ends up.
wasteful nations in the developed world? He asks why Importantly, it demonstrates in powerful visual images
Australians are generating millions of tonnes more waste some of the damaging consequences of thoughtless waste
every year – in food, fashion, plastics, coffee cups and disposal.
more. He discovers the truth about where various kinds
of waste actually ends up and learns what we can do to These programs provide information that is both shocking
reduce the staggering volumes we produce. and thought provoking, illustrating the daily waste crea-
tion we all have responsibility for. It addresses many issues
Importantly he projects into the future. With the amount of raised in the cross-curriculum priority, Sustainability, in the
waste increasing in Australia by nearly 8% a year, he asks Australian National Curriculum, addressing the ongoing
© ATOM 2017

what will happen if we do nothing? Is it time for us as a capacity of earth to maintain all life.
nation to seriously re-examine the ways we consume and
dispose of consumer items?
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Sustainable patterns of living meet the needs of the pre-

sent without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their needs. Actions to improve sustainability are
both individual and collective endeavours shared across
local and global communities. They necessitate a renewed
and balanced approach to the way humans interact with
each other and the environment.

Education for sustainability develops the knowledge, skills,

values and world views necessary for people to act in ways
that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. It
enables individuals and communities to reflect on ways of
interpreting and engaging with the world. Sustainability
education is futures-oriented, focusing on protecting
environments and creating a more ecologically and socially
just world through informed action. Actions that support At VCE level in Environmental Science, Unit 2 involves a
more sustainable patterns of living require consideration of study of How Pollution Can Be Managed. See the in-
environmental, social, cultural and economic systems and formation listed in the detailed Study Guide referred to
their interdependence in this website. (Note: these guidelines refer to the new
Environmental Science course currently being implement-
http://v7-5.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ ed at VCE level in Victoria)
crosscurriculumpriorities/Sustainability.
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/
The program could be used to support student work in the envscience/EnviroScienceSD-2016.pdf
following curriculum areas from years 4 to 12.
Unit 2 includes the following guidelines for the study of soil
Ø Geography contamination and its causes.

Ø General Science Contamination of soils can prevent natural growth and

balance in both natural and managed ecosystems. Soil
Ø Civics and Citizenship contamination can lead to poor growth and reduced crop
yields, loss of wildlife habitat, water and visual pollution,
Ø Environmental Studies soil erosion, and desertification. Sources of soil pollution
include hazardous waste spills, unsustainable farming prac-
Ø Consumer Science and Consumption tices, strip mining, deforestation, and littering.

Ø Home Economics – Accounting Questions that may be explored in this investigation

include:
Ø Sustainability
o How do the chemical properties of biodegradable plas-
Ø Personal Responsibility tics differ from those of non-biodegradable plastics to
enable more rapid environmental degradation?
In the National Curriculum, there are a number of areas in
the Geography strand of Humanities and Social Sciences o Do the heavy metal deposits in surface water systems
across a number of levels where students and teachers left over from historic gold mining sites present a
could use information in this program to undertake investi- hazard?
gations into waste management.
o Should food ‘take-away’ containers be banned?
In Year 4 Geography as part of their study of the earth’s
environment, students investigate ‘the management of o What happens to rubbish buried in landfills?
waste from production and consumption’ – ACHGK 025
o What makes materials biodegradable?
At Year 8, students investigate ‘the human causes and
effects of landscape degradation on places and environ- Plastics, landfill materials, take away food containers and
ments’- ACHGK 051 biodegradability are all issues explored in War on Waste.

At Year 9 in Unit 2 – The Geographies of Interconnections, Teachers are advised to select from these three episodes
students study ‘the effects of the production and con- and the related parts of this guide that best suit the inter-
© ATOM 2017

sumption of goods on places and environments through- ests and abilities of their students.
out the world’ – ACHGK 068

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THE SERIES
Much of the waste shown in these programs reflects the
problems created by over-consumption of products and
the consequent need to dispose of them and their packag-
ing. In identifying and illustrating the extent and range of
the problem, Craig Reucassel shows us how we all need
to become part of the solution through taking personal
responsibility for our waste. What does break down and
what stays around for generations? Is convenience any
longer the most important consideration in our shopping?

There are 3 one-hour episodes in War on Waste, each fo-

cussing on particular areas of waste creation and disposal
from food to plastics to fashion and coffee cups, over-con-
sumption and production underpinning all these areas.

Episode 1 investigates food waste, generated by the big

THE KEY CREATIVES supermarkets and households alike. Why does a lot of
produce never leave the farm gate? Do we buy too much
ON WAR ON WASTE
food and how are supermarket policies of cosmetic stand-
ards for fruit and vegetables compounding the problem of
Series Producer – Sandra Welkerling food waste? Does this waste just conveniently disappear
and not affect the environment?
Sandra has also worked on River Cottage Australia and
would like to be a farmer as she has seen enough landfill Episode 2 focusses on plastic bags and their damaging
sites to last her a lifetime. effect on the environment. Where do they end their useful
life? Are they being recycled properly so that they don’t
end up in landfill and in our waterways? Are biodegradable
plastics better or worse for the environment? How many
Executive Producer – Jodi Boylan places in Australia have banned the plastic bag?

While also working on River Cottage Australia, filmed in Episode 3 looks at the impact of takeaway coffee cups
Central Tilba on the south coast of NSW, Jodi led a com- and fast fashion that is creating textile waste everywhere
munity campaign to ban the plastic bag as people continually replace perfectly wearable clothes
for new cheaper ones. Do we need all these clothes and
what’s the problem with taking your own cup or mug for a
refill?
Presenter – Craig Reucassel

Craig Reucassel is an Australian writer and comedian who

is best known for his work with The Chaser, an ABC televi-
sion program which took a satirical look at politics and the
claims of politicians. ABC TV Chaser programs include The
Election Chaser, CNNNN, The Chaser’s War on Everything,
Yes, We Canberra and The Hamster Wheel. Most recently,
he’s appeared on ABC in The Chaser’s Media Circus, The
Chaser’s Electoral Desk and the current series of satirical
consumer affairs show, The Checkout.

Craig graduated from the University of Sydney with

honours in Bachelor of Economics (Social Science) and
Bachelor of Laws.

He has also co-hosted the Triple j shows Today, Today,

Bloody Sunday and The Race Race with fellow Chaser
Chris Taylor. In 2016, he performed in David Williamson’s
play, Jack of Hearts.
© ATOM 2017

Craig is married with three children and a cat and a dog.

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VOCABULARY outdated, broken or no longer wanted (this includes

mobile phones, tablets, computers, printers, televi-
Explain what each of these words or terms means or refers sions, games consoles, toasters, kettles, juicers, sand-
to. If unsure, share your views and look the word up either wich presses, etc?
online or in a dictionary. Where possible find a word or
phrase with a similar meaning, e.g. Millennials – individu- 8. If you have ever moved house, about how much stuff
als reaching adulthood around the year 2000 - Generation from the house or garage or shed gets put out for a
Y. Note to teachers – younger students may need some hard waste or other type of rubbish collection – a huge
help with some of these words, though older students are amount, just a few broken things or nothing at all?
likely to have at least heard them used and be able to work
out what they refer to. 9. How often do you buy new clothes and shoes? What
happens to the old ones?
Landfill, depot, tip
Littering 10. Why do you think many coffee drinkers buy their coffee
Polluting in lidded takeaway cups?
Composting
Biodegradable 11. Does your household have and use a supplied recy-
Dumpster Diving cling bin? Are you sure about what is and is not able to
Ton or tonne? put in this bin?
GPS
Greenhouse gases 12. Where do you think material in recycling bins ends up?
Recycling
Millennials **

13. Are you aware of where any of your waste ends up?
PRE-VIEWING QUESTIONS
14. Have you ever visited your local municipal depot/rub-
Some of these questions are about your household while bish tip/transfer station/dump? If you have, how is the
others are about your own throwing out habits. Try to area divided up for receiving and processing different
answer the questions as honestly as possible and then types of waste? Is there a tip shop for buying discard-
return to them after you have watched the program. Most ed items or a ‘help yourself to garden mulch’ area?
of these questions could be responded to in a classroom
through group sharing of ideas, but for younger students it 15. What do you think dumpster divers do?
may be best to focus on one group at a time, e.g. 1-5.
16. Have you or your family ever re-homed discarded furni-
1. In what ways do you think your household does ‘better ture or other items left out for rubbish collections?
than average’ in the waste generation stakes, i.e. are
you less wasteful than you think others might be? 17. Does food waste contribute to greenhouse gases?
What form of emissions does rotted food give off?
2. Do you have a compost bin or maybe a worm farm
where food waste can break down to be used to enrich **
soil?
18. What kind of waste and landfill might the first non-
3. About what percentage of your purchased food do you indigenous arrivals on the first fleet have seen in the
think ends up in the bin? landscape and in the sea in 1788?

4. Do you bring your shopping home from the supermar- 19. In what ways can our waste generation and reluctance
ket in plastic bags or cloth bags? to dispose of it responsibly be evidence of our ‘trashing
the earth and its natural resources’?
5. When choosing fruit and vegetables at the supermarket
or fruit and vegetable shop, what are the things impor- 20. How is First Nation Australians’ priority of ‘caring for
tant to you when selecting produce – price, appear- country’ important to all of us in relation to managing
ance, in season etc? waste on land and sea?

** 21. List what you think are the most damaging conse-
quences of thoughtless waste disposal in 2017.
6. In what areas do you think your household could de-
crease the amount of waste they generate?
© ATOM 2017

7. What do you do with electronic waste once it is

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EPISODE 1 • Why are different sized backyard fruit and vegetables

such as lemons, tomatoes, peas, lettuce, apples and
SIZE DOESN’T MATTER
carrots acceptable for us and our friends to eat, but not
FOOD WASTE for supermarkets to sell?

Craig Reucassel kicks off the War on Waste by tackling • Who do you think is responsible for the push for cos-
the issue of food waste as a staggering amount ends up in metically perfect and uniformly sized produce?
landfill every year. On average, Australians are throwing out
a fifth of all food that they buy - a fact Craig demonstrates • What does ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables really mean?
at the local supermarket on unsuspecting shoppers.
• Which supermarket chain introduced ‘the odd bunch’
After learning that a huge amount of food waste happens range in 2014?
on farms, Craig travels to far North Queensland and meets
banana farmers where he discovers just how much they’re o Who is the public face on television advertising of
forced to throw away because of the strict cosmetic this scheme?
standards forced upon them by supermarkets. It raises
more questions - have we been conditioned to demand o What does it offer to customers and suppliers?
perfect produce that’s impossible to grow? If so, who’s
responsible? Craig contacts the major supermarket retail- o Have you ever bought odd bunch fruit and
ers to try to get some answers. He also takes to the streets vegetables?
to discover if we really are that fussy when it comes to the
look of our fresh produce.

Craig spends the night with a dumpster diving granny who

supplements her weekly groceries by raiding supermarket
waste bins. She shares her favourite haunts and brings
home the food – some of it is too good to be true.

Craig challenges a neighbourhood of ten Sydney families The average family of two
to live as ‘waste free’ as they possibly can. Over the next
month, they’ll try to reduce their household waste. But adults and two children
first he wants to see what they waste, so he borrows their
garbage bins and sorts through the contents – it’s a messy, throws out over $3,500
stinky job! When confronted with their waste the families
have more questions than answers to the problem.
worth of food a year –
• What is the first area of waste Craig looks into in North
Queensland?
this is one in every five
• How is the rejected produce shown visually? bags of groceries they buy.
© ATOM 2017

• What new meaning do these scenes give to ‘mountains

of waste’?

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Too fat, too thin, too short, too long, too marked,
too ugly – a banana producer

• How does Craig demonstrate the average level of • Do you think it is fussy consumers or supermarkets
a household’s weekly food waste to supermarket wanting their fresh food to look perfect that results in
shoppers? the amount of produce being discarded?

• List some of the reasons why we all bin food every • List some of the initiatives Craig takes to find some
week? answers to the ‘ugly’ fruit issue? How far does he get?

• How easy is it to just load up lots of food into your

shopping trolley?
We need to educate ourselves to understand that nature
• Where does this wasted food end up after it has been grows in weird ways and the more we devalue ugly fruit
binned? What are the environmental impacts of all this and veg such as wiggly carrots, we’re doing ourselves a
waste? huge disservice - Ronni Kahn, CEO and Founder of Oz
Harvest, one of several organizations that collect food for
• Even if the so-called ugly fruit were accepted by super- needy people; it might otherwise go to landfill.
markets and sold and eaten, the issue of over-produc-
tion involving resources such as water and fertilizers • Does Ronni Kahn have an answer to the chicken and
remains. How many bananas does a family need in a egg question of whether the supermarkets or the con-
© ATOM 2017

week? sumers reject ugly fruit and vegetables?

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AT HOME WITH OUR BINS

Oh, that’s disgusting!

The war on waste local bin challenge in a street in Sydney’s southern suburbs.

TABLE 1

NUMBER OF FILLED BINS TYPICAL CONTENTS OF THE WHAT GOES INTO THE HOW FULL TO THE TOP IS EACH
EACH HOUSEHOLD USES GENERAL RUBBISH BIN? RECYCLE BIN? BIN?
EACH WEEK

Week 1 of challenge

Week 3 of challenge

• What are the four piles into which Craig sorts the contents of the families’ bins?

• What are the two areas of rubbish that most surprise the participants?

How do they these neighbours use social media to keep up their interest in this war on waste challenge?
© ATOM 2017

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COMPOSTING
• What food and other waste materials can be compost-
ed for breaking down to feed soil and plants?

What food waste can’t be composted?

Explain the science of composting to your classmates.

If you know about or have a worm farm, describe to your

classmates how it works.

What are some of the important things to take care of

when you set up compost bins and/or worm farms?
Where do you think this emphasis on perfect and uniform
• Why do so few people have compost bins of some size looks might have come from? Is this admiration of symme-
and type? What are some of the hassles of a compost try and ‘perfection’ just ingrained in our society?
bin, e.g. no room, messy, smelly, attracting vermin
etc.?
FOODBANK
• Research whether your local council can point you to
any public compost bins at local community gardens • Who donates the food stored in Foodbank’s
where you could dispose of vegetable food waste? warehouses?

• Does every fruit and vegetable product need to be • Who collects, delivers, prepares and cooks the food
packaged in plastic wrap before it is cocooned for the that comes through Foodbank?
home trip in a lightweight plastic bag?
• Who eats these meals?
Name several fruits and vegetables that have their own
natural protective covering, such as sweet corn. • Make a list of any organizations in your suburb or state
that are involved in feeding people in need of meals,
• How does Craig test the truth of the supermarkets’ whether through homelessness, poverty, illness or for
claims that the millions of plastic bags put in recycle any other reason.
bins, either at your place or at the supermarket, do end
up being recycled and reused in some way? Dumpster Diving

• Angus Harris of Harris Farm Markets claims that his • Craig spends time with a ‘dumpster diver’. What do
customers have no problem with buying so-called these individuals do and what are some of the possible
‘Imperfect’ products. legal issues that might arise from their activities?

How fussy are you about the look and shape of your fruit • What are some of the risks people expose themselves
and vegetables? to when they go out at night dumpster diving? How are
these potential dangers shown in the program?
Do you prefer fresh or processed fruit and vegetables?

THE ODD BUNCH

• What specific information did Craig get from
Woolworths Head of Sustainability about the com-
pany’s plans to move closer to zero waste by 2020?

• What explanation does he give for the ‘cosmetic

standards’ that consign a lot of fruit and vegetables to
landfill before they even get to the ‘odd bunch’ sec-
tion. (Check this odd bunch produce out at your local
Woolworths if they have this section)

• How can consumers like you and me put pressure on

the big supermarkets to change their policies about
© ATOM 2017

the natural and diverse beauty of fruit and vegetables

where size is dependent on many natural factors?

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EPISODE 2 – BAN THE BAG

PLASTIC WASTE AND RECYCLING

The convenient plastic bag is everywhere, and seems

harmless enough, but their impact on the environment is
huge. Craig dives underwater to discover the shocking
amount of plastic waste that ends up in our oceans, which
in turn becomes ingested by our marine life.

Craig sets off to explore the effect of banning plastic bags

in some states, and the alarming way some businesses
get around it. Inspired to challenge other states to instigate
the ban, he surprises various politicians with a giant plastic
bag ball to highlight the issue and get some answers.

To answer the question of what we can and can’t recycle,

Craig talks to expert Tim Silverwood before he travels back
to our Sydney neighbourhood to set up a recycling chal-
lenge for our ‘waste free’ families. Can he help them learn
some basic rules and tricks when it comes to recycling?

We also hear about how productive some recycling can be, HISTORY
and see products made from recycled plastic. Craig also
takes our waste-free street residents to a repair café where From the mid-1980s onwards, plastic bags became com-
they learn the undervalued and surprisingly emotional joys mon for carrying groceries from shops to cars and homes
of fixing and restoring rather than disposing and replacing. throughout the developed world. They were light, cheap
and convenient. As plastic bags increasingly replaced
paper bags, and as other plastic materials and products
replaced glass, metal, stone, timber and other materials,
a packaging materials war erupted, with plastic shopping
bags at the centre of highly publicized disputes about their
less desirable side effects.

Research what grey plastic shopping bags are made of to

understand how an object of convenience has turned into
a waste monster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_shopping_bag

As a nation, we use
over 10 million plastic
bags a day, causing
a crisis in our oceans.

Of the 5 billion plastic

bags we use in Australia
annually, 85% end up
in landfill.
© ATOM 2017

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The information and suggested activities in this episode

REDUCE, RECYCLE, REUSE, REFUSE
relate specifically to aspects of ACARA Year 4 Geography
curriculum where as part of their study of the earth’s envi- As these programs make clear through several examples,
ronment, students are required to learn about the sustain- the principle underlying any recycling program is SORTING
able management of waste – ACHGK 025. into piles similar product made of similar materials, i.e.
glass bottles, plastic bottles and containers, aluminium
http://v7-5.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ cans, fabrics and paper.
humanities-and-social-sciences/geography/
curriculum/f-10?layout=1#level4 The difficulty with plastic bags used to transport supermar-
ket products is that they often have other uses as bin liners
Senior students interested in the fascinating and very and to pick up dog pooh which makes these multi use
recent history of the development of plastics could either bags un recyclable.
listen to a podcast or download the transcript of a recent
radio program broadcast on ABCs Radio National – The While they can be reused, as they are quite lightweight and
History of Plastics. not very tough (double baggers please note), they are still
not easily bio - degradable.
See http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/
rearvision/the-history-of-plastic/8576534 If recycling is very difficult, there is really only one option
left of the R words above.

Buried in landfill, plastic may take centuries if not

millennia to degrade …and a shocking 8 million
tonnes of it leak into the ocean every year, killing
marine life around the world.

Half the world’s turtles and two thirds of some

Australian seabirds already have plastic in their gut.
© ATOM 2017

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 OBJECT USES AFTER USE FINAL DESTINATION AGE AT POINT OF ONGOING HARMS
DISINTEGRATION

The lightweight grey As many as you can Bags journey once Where do they end up How long does it What do they hurt and
supermarket plastic think of binned take for a plastic how
bag bag to break down
(decompose or
degrade) in landfill or
the ocean?
PLASTIC BAGS
Fill out the second row in Table 2 to illustrate the extent of the plastic bag problem in Australia.
I I

© ATOM 2017

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DIVING INTO AUSTRALIA’S

SEA OF PLASTIC WASTE
• What is the dramatic visual in this episode that Craig
uses to attract the politicians’, the public and the
viewers’ attention? How important are powerful visual
images in drawing attention to a problem?

• Explain why only a very small percentage of plastic

bags are recycled?

• Describe the mechanics of sorting materials for recy-

cling. How is it done, who does it and where is it done?

• How do you think food products were packaged, dis-

played and sold before the widespread use of plastics
in the 1980s?

• What types of convenient plastic wrapping is your

food wrapped in before it reaches your mouth or your Make a list of household items you are pretty sure can be
plate? How wrapped are the following when bought recycled.
from a supermarket – chicken wings, sweetcorn, herbs,
apples, cheese, ham, bread, leg of lamb, pork chops, What are some of the things the families from the street of
minced steak, fish fillets. waste reduction are uncertain about recycling?

Do any of these products have their own natural protec- Create a 3-column list of - Yes, No and Don’t Know for
tive wrapping such as banana skins or crusts and cheese your recycle bin contents or highlight each type of listed
rinds? rubbish in three different colours- green for Yes, red for No
and yellow for Don’t Know.
Many countries in the world have banned plastic shopping
bags. Many others charge for them or tax them. Countries Drink cans, food scraps, ice cream containers, milk bot-
where bags are banned include China, Kenya, South Africa tles, milk cartons, broken glass, pot plants, newspapers,
and Eritrea. See the list at http://www.bigfatbags.co.uk/ plastic bags, takeaway coffee cups, magazines, waste
bans-taxes-charges-plastic-bags/ paper, metal cookware, printer cartridges, metal food cans,
cereal boxes and their inner bags, egg cartons, disposable
What is the situation in Australia? Name any states or terri- nappies, broken ceramic crockery, aerosol cans, house
tories that have banned the bag. Which state is introducing paint tins, soft drink bottles and lids, batteries, light globes.
a ban in 2018?
You can always check with your local council or on their
To encourage people to bring along their reusable cloth bags website under Waste Disposal to see if an item like aerosol
to the supermarket from the car boot or from home, what cans can be recycled.
price do you think would really put shoppers off paying for
plastic bags at the checkout: 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, $1 • How do the residents in Sydney’s more waste aware
per bag or more? Take a straw poll in your class group. street manage the grey or white soft plastic bags that
are still clean?
Who would be the big losers if a ban on so-called single
use plastic bags went national? Where do they take these plastics for recycling?

So, what can we do if we think banning the bag is the best Check out whether your local supermarket has a recycling
solution? bin for soft plastics.

Email or write to the Premier or Environment Minister in Redcycle.net.au is the site to check to see if any of the 530
your state and tell them what you think about plastic bags Coles and 100 Woolworths stores that say they have red
and their alternatives. bins for recycling plastic are in your area.

• What device does Craig put into one of the bags col-
lected for recycling to check where it ends up and how
RECYCLING – YES, NO, MAYBE,
it is recycled?
OR TOO EXPENSIVE?
© ATOM 2017

• Make a list of household items you are not sure can be • Where did one lot of plastic waste end up as shown on
recycled in a recycle bin. the tracking GPS placed in a bag?

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RECOVERY FACILITIES • What is the difference between reusable plastic bags

and single use ones?
CLOSE VIEWING ACTIVITY 17. 49 – 22.32
• Are thicker plastic bags any better for the environment
• What happens at Suez, the Material Recovery Facility than the thin grey ones?
in Western Sydney that Craig visits with Brad Grey from
Planet Ark?
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND?
• List the three most important things you learnt about
the recycling process at the Recovery Centre. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic than
fish in our oceans – Craig.
• What are the most valuable items that are recycled?
• Apart from sitting in landfill for many years, what is the
• What are some of the factors that make recycling dif- final destination of many of our plastic bags?
ficult for the sorting machines and the workers?
• What living creatures often eat parts of these bags and
• What substances are shipped to overseas countries choke?
for recycling? Why would these materials be sent
offshore? • How does Craig get a first- hand look at this often-
invisible problem?
• What is the one item that it is most difficult to recycle?
Why are these items such a problem? • Why do you think both NSW ex-Premier Mike Baird
and current Premier Gladys Berejiklian avoid talking
about banning the plastic bag in their state?
WHERE DOES MUCH OF OUR
DISCARDED RUBBISH END UP? • Who are the beneficiaries of these millions of bags?

• How do most households or house owners pay for • Who are the biggest losers?
rubbish collection and disposal when their bins are col-
lected and emptied? • What sort of public pressure might persuade state
governments to act on this issue?
• What costs are involved in sorting rubbish at municipal
tips/dumps/landfill/council depots? • What might be the economic consequences for com-
panies manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing plastic
• What can you safely dispose of at many council depots bags used by supermarkets?
that will become a reusable resource?
Suggest bags these companies might be able to develop
if the currently available plastic bags are nationally or
globally banned… as everyone still needs to transport their
THE TASMANIAN INITIATIVE
shopping home or to the car.
• Explain what happened to plastic bags in the town of
Coles Bay in Tasmania in 2003. • What are the less damaging alternatives to these plas-
tic bags for other uses such as bin liners and picking
• How did the rest of the state follow up on this initiative up dog pooh?
in 2013?

In every state except Queensland it’s more economical

to recycle than to send to landfill because there is a
tax on putting something in landfill everywhere except
Queensland – Brad Grey.
© ATOM 2017

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JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION PLEASE!

• What sort of run- around does Craig get from people
who are part of the plastic bags production and recy-
cling businesses, as well as politicians? Why is it such
an apparently dirty secret?

• Were you surprised that that our plastic bags go to

China and Indonesia for re-processing into usable
products? What approximate percentage of current
plastic bags go offshore to be re-made into usable,
durable outdoor furniture?

REPAIRING AND RECYCLING

Since the Bower Repair Cafe started in 2014, they’ve saved
around 200 tonnes of material going into landfill.

• Why don’t most of us try and fix our furniture, clothes

bikes, appliances and cars anymore?

When it comes to our Are we too busy, don’t know how, can’t be bothered, it’s
too expensive and we want new things anyway?

plastic waste it’s clear • How does Guido Verbist, manager of the Bower Repair
Café in Sydney, try to help people hang onto their
that we’ve hit crisis stuff?

point…both on land • Are price and convenience the most important consid-
erations in upgrading and replacing items?
and in our oceans.
• What are some of the items the waste free Sydney
street residents bring in for repair?
The current bans on
plastic bags in Australia
turn out to be full of
loopholes. Currently only
a tiny percentage of our
soft plastic gets recycled.

Months since I tried to

roll in a national ban, the
politicians are dodging
the problem. Together
we can change that
© ATOM 2017

– Craig Reucassel.

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EPISODE 3
BYOCOFFEECUP
COFFEE CUPS AND FASHION WASTE

There is no doubt that we live in an increasingly throwaway

society. Craig explores the impact that coffee cups and
fast fashion have on our environment.

It’s estimated that over 1 billion coffee cups are ending

up in landfill each year. While most people believe coffee
cups are being recycled, this is not quite the case. Craig
catches up with the experts to find out what is going on.
To highlight the issue, he fills a tram with coffee cups and
encourages Melbourne’s coffee lovers to start using their
own recyclable ‘keep cups’. Can the movement take off?

Craig examines our obsession with fast fashion - it’s an

issue that’s causing an environmental crisis globally as

textile waste is piling up at catastrophic levels. Our cloth-

ing charities are inundated with the volume of clothing
coming to them, much of which now ends up in landfill. A
recent audit by the City of Sydney reveals that 6 tonnes of
textile and fashion waste are going to landfill in Australia
We throw out 6000 every ten minutes. Craig unleashes a dramatic stunt in
Martin Place to illustrate just what a pile of this waste looks
kilos of clothes every like.

Craig follows this up by tracking down four fashion-

10 minutes. obsessed millennials and, with the help of celebrity stylist
Aleysha Campbell, inspires them to slow their fashion
down by going on a fashion diet.
Up to a billion take-
Craig returns to our ‘waste free’ families to see their trans-
away coffee cups end formation over the course of the show. Finally, he follows
up with supermarkets and recycling facilities to encour-
© ATOM 2017

up in landfill each year. age them to make changes for the better. Will he have an
impact?

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FAST FASHION LEADS TO HEAPS OF RAGS

6. Is shopping for clothes in malls, department stores,
Take the fashion quiz shopping centres, shopping strips, arcades, Direct
Factory Outlets, etc. something you enjoy doing?
1. Where do your clothes go when you grow out of them
or get sick of them – to friends or family, to be used as 7. Do advertisements and fashion websites such as The
rags, op shop, bottom drawer, rubbish bin, charity bag Iconic and Lululemon usually direct their advertising to
etc? females?

2. How often do you buy an item of clothing or shoes 8. What are some of the advantages of buying fashion
– weekly, monthly, every few months, at change of online?
seasons?
9. How important is price as a consideration on what you
3. How many t-shirts that you wear do you own? spend on clothes?

4. What about jeans, shorts, shoes, hoodies, leggings, Do you buy mainly at discounted prices or at sales?
dresses, skirts?
10. Do you ever buy second-hand clothes from Op Shops
5. Do you mostly clothes shop for a special occasion or other second-hand shops? Why or why not?
such as a friend’s party, a date night, a holiday, school
formal, wedding or engagement party?

More than half a million tonnes of textiles and

leather end up in landfill in Australia every year.
In the last five years, we’ve seen an increasing
amount of high volume, low cost clothing
in our stores.
One t-shirt can take up to 2,700 litres of water,
enough drinking water for one person for almost
© ATOM 2017

three years..
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FASHION FACTS
CLOSE VIEWING ACTIVITY
Who are some of the fashion retailers that have entered
•
09.03 – 11.03
the Australian market over the past five years?
WHERE DO ALL THOSE BAGS OF
• What does ‘high volume, low margin’ mean in retail THROWN - OUT CLOTHES GO?
sales and how does it compound the landfill problem?
• What kind of organisation is the Smith Family? What do
• Where have most textiles and clothes been made over they do to help the communities where they work?
the past 50 years?
• How does the visit to the Smith Family warehouse give
• Under typically what conditions is fast fashion (and the young women some information about what hap-
even slower fashion) made? What does the term pens to their discarded clothes?
‘sweated labour’ mean to you?
• What percentage of the 13 million kilos of discarded
• What are some of the natural resources used in the clothes donated to the Smith family annually goes into
manufacture of textiles? their retail stores (op shops)?

• How long do you think it would take you to make a What happens to most of the clothes?
lined woollen jacket?
• What does it cost the Smith Family to recycle, clean,
sell and dispose of clothes?
THE FASHION DIET
Craig challenges four fashion obsessed friends to find out
RE-USING, RECONSIDERING,
why fashion is so addictive.
REPURPOSING BUT NOT RE-BUYING
• What is fashion stylist Aleysha’s task in relation to the
girls’ clothes shopping?

• What advantages are there in trying to put a break on

any addictive behaviour by redirecting your focus and
time management?

• How does the activity of swapping, mixing and re-

matching satisfy one part of the girls’ shopping addic-
tions and desire for a new look?

• Sportsgirl have a mobile platform and interactive mir-

rors where shoppers can post a picture online of what
they are trying on.

Do you think this Is likely to increase and enhance the

shopping experience or make customers less likely to snap
purchase?

• What do you believe often underlies the desire to buy

new clothes?

• How are big retailer H&M trying to encourage recycling

of clothes by their customers?

• In what ways is Kathmandu, a large multi store retailer

of outdoor clothes in New Zealand and Australia, trying
to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability?

Why might it be easier for a retailer such as Kathmandu

to persuade their customers to consider wearability and
practicality as much as price and fashion cred with their
© ATOM 2017

clothes?

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 I I

SOCIAL MEDIA AND PEER APPROVAL

Joost Bakker opened Australia’s first zero waste café ten
• What are some of the strategies Aleysha, the stylist, years ago in Melbourne.
suggests to the girls to reduce their spend on new
clothes for social events? • What percentage of some café revenue comes from
takeaway cups?
• How do they appear to respond to the ‘swap, mix and
match’ challenge as a group? • If there was a discount for bringing your own cup to
your local cafe, would that lead to fewer customers us-
• Fashion promoters, stylists, advertising on social ing single use cups for coffee?
media, on television, on music videos, in films and
in magazines, are skilled at channelling behaviours, • How does Craig get café owners on board his push for
at identifying and presenting the It clothes and the It customers to bring a reusable cup?
celebrities as clothing role models.
• Is a 50 cents discount for coffee in your own cup
• Apart from what you see on Instagram, who and what enough incentive to encourage people to bring their
do you think are the most important fashion influencers own cup?
today?
Go to www.responsiblecafes.org to find out about the
If you are a follower of fashion, complete this sentence – ‘I very few requirements to using a regular coffee cup or lid-
admire the look and style of …… ‘ ded keep cup for your out of home coffees.

HOW ARE THE WASTE FREE FAMILIES GOING

TWO WEEKS INTO THEIR CHALLENGE?
• What has changed in the amount of rubbish in the
Sydney families’ household bins?

• How have these changes been achieved?

• What role does connecting via social media play in

their resolve to greatly reduce their waste?

• What is one of the household waste items that some

of the families and many people are unsure about
recycling?

TAKEAWAY COFFEE CUPS

• What are most disposable coffee cups and their lids
made of?

• In the cities or towns with street bins, what is one of

the most commonly found items?

• How does Craig demonstrate the size of the problem

I just hope no one noticed
on the streets of Melbourne?
that I was wearing the
Why are most coffee cups not suitable for recycling?
•
How is some plastic an important element in dispos- same outfit I’d posted on
able coffee cups? What does the polyethylene lining
stop from happening? social media before when
• So, if they are not suitable for recycling, where are they I wore it the first time and
likely to end up?
instagrammed it – Jayme,
• How would taking your own reusable cup to the café
help reduce the billions of discarded cups and lids that one of the girls on the
© ATOM 2017

just go to rubbish dumps every year in Australia? This

is 50,000 a year every half hour. fashion diet challenge
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 I I

How do Aldi and other smaller supermarkets deal with the

plastic bag dilemma?

• What might be the immediate result of Supermarkets

adjusting their cosmetic standards policies on fruit and
vegetables to a more realistic standard - as long as it
looks OK and is fresh, we’ll sell it?

Read the following news item first aired after the first War
on Waste episode about wasted produce went to air:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-25/petition-to-
• Make your own suggestions about how to persuade reduce-plastic-in-supermarkets-war-on-waste/8557658
coffee drinkers and cafes not to add disposable coffee
cups to landfill. • What do this and other news reports suggest about
how keen the two big chain supermarkets are to show
• What campaigns in the past have caused massive their green credentials and respond to public disquiet
shifts in people’s behaviour? Did many students and with their current waste, overpackaging and quite lim-
teachers and parents have a problem with students ited recycling efforts?
wearing sunhats and sunscreen on warm and hot days
when this initiative was introduced some years back?
POST VIEWING ACTIVITIES
• How do you change people’s habits in a society where
many people believe they are too busy to bring their Craig Reucassel acknowledges the size of the challenge
own coffee cup to work or their own cloth bags to the of changing habits and behaviours in relation to over-
supermarket? consumption and waste disposal in these programs. He
encounters waste management problems in every state he
visits – Queensland, Tasmania, NSW and Victoria.
THE REDCYCLE BINS?
But he also demonstrates through his challenge with the
• Where can these bins be found? Sydney waste-free street households that small changes
can result in in huge differences in how much waste we
What can be put into them – just soft plastic bags or what create and how we dispose of it.
else?

Where do the contents go?

What might these materials end up as?

• Approximately what percentage of soft plastics get

recycled?

• Do you think the two biggest supermarket chains (with

776 and 840 stores nationally between them covering
80% of the grocery market) should take a more active
role in promoting recycling?

What will happen when the big two chains bring in a no

plastic bags policy?

Update: on July 14th, 2017, Woolworths and Coles an-

nounced that they would soon begin phasing out single
use plastic bags in their stores with a total ban in place
by June 30th, 2018.

The phase-out will bring stores for both supermarket

chains in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia in line
© ATOM 2017

with those in other states and territories where plastic

bag bans have been legislated.

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 I I

Students could choose one or more of these 8 activities

depending on their interest and skills in different work
areas.

1. Return to the Pre-viewing questions on page X of

this guide and see if there are any answers that you
would change after watching these episodes of War on
Waste.

2. Politicians tell us daily that growing the economy and

creating jobs are the key drivers of financial wealth.
Does prosperity necessarily result in waste creation,
whether this is through over- consumption of food,
plastics, clothes or disposable coffee cups? How might
waste production generate jobs and if it does, is this a
good reason to keep generating waste at our current
rate? f) Prepare a petition for your local state member ask-
ing for a change in approach and practice to waste
Think about who might suffer if plastic bags were banned creation and management. It may be as simple as
nationally, if single use coffee cups were more expensive, if ‘Ban the lightweight plastic bags’ or a request for
you had to pay for waste generated by paying op shops to better cleaning services in parks and waterways
relocate or throw away your excess clothes buys. in your area. Send it off or arrange for it to be
delivered to State Parliament. Paper or hard copy
What role does buying and selling have in our society? petitions, as Craig Reucassel demonstrates with
How many of our waste problems are a direct result of over his coffee cups tram and his plastic bag ball, have
consumption or thoughtless buying? a greater impact than online petitions which can be
easier to ignore.
How can we all be encouraged to respect the natural world
by reducing our dependence on landfill to unload our g) Learn to repair and keep using an object in your
waste, such as we see happening in this series? household that is damaged and/or discarded.

Our waste is growing at double the rate of our population. h) Organise a visit from a council depot worker from
By calling these programs War on Waste, what are the their ‘sustainability’ department to talk about the
filmmakers suggesting about Australia’s mounting waste kind of recycling they are doing.
problems?
i) Research whether there is any such thing as strong
3. Choose one of the following as your challenge for but biodegradable bags to pick up and dispose
change in the next month. We can’t all do everything of all the dog pooh our pets produce daily in back
at once but small changes we each make will certainly yards or parks or on their walks. Where does it all
add up. go?

a) Take the supermarket plastic carry bags back to j) Check out your local supermarket to see if some of
the shop and put them in the store recycle bin the information shown in this program has encour-
which may be labelled Red Cycle. aged plastic bag recycling or at least returning
bags to place of grocery produce. If you learn that
b) Spend $5 on five strong cloth supermarket bags there has been a change, suggest how this new
and put them in the car if you drive to the shops or behaviour can be sustained.
at home if you walk.
4. If there was just one change all of us could be persuad-
c) Encourage all family members to use a ‘keep cup’ ed to make in how we create and dispose of waste,
for the coffee or hot chocolate they have on their what would you select as the most worthwhile change
way to work. for 2017?

d) Set up a simple composting bin with a lid in the 5. If a second series of War on Waste is made, what are
backyard for fruit and vegetable and garden waste. some of the areas of over-consumption and excessive
waste that you would like to see featured?
e) Don’t buy any new clothes or shoes, if possible,
for a month unless they are really essential. Visit an 6. Which of the suggested initiatives featured in Series 1
© ATOM 2017

Op shop. would you hope to see working in Series 2:

23
 I I

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

BOOKS

Annie Raser-Rowland with Adam Grubb, The Art of Frugal

Hedonism – A guide to spending less while enjoying every-
thing more, Melliodora Publishing, 2016

Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss, Affluenza – When too

much is never enough, Allen and Unwin, 2005

ARTICLES AND OTHER MATERIALS

a. Adjusting cosmetic fruit and vegetable standards Check out this site for more information and tips about
by supermarkets waste management projects and ideas

b. More city and suburban cafes seeing a change in http://www.abc.net.au/ourfocus/waronwaste/

the percentage of customers using their own cof-
fee cups An article about the value of the ‘odd bunch’ sales pitch at
Woolworth.
c. A nationwide ban on grey and white lightweight
plastic bags in all shops http://theconversation.com/cut-price-ugly-supermar-
ket-food-wont-reduce-waste-heres-why-35375
d. Charges to shoppers for use of single use plastic
shopping bags The History of Plastic transcript

e. Local councils offering affordable compost bins for http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/

food waste rearvision/the-history-of-plastic/8576534

f. Higher penalties for illegal dumping of rubbish, Clean-up Australia’s campaign to clean up Australia and
including cars and mattresses. plastic bags in particular.

7. Write a persuasive essay about a proposed national http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/Campaigns/plastic-bag-

ban on single use plastic bags. facts.html

You can either argue in favour of this idea or against it. Eco House Challenge, 2007 6-part series shown on SBS,
Prospero Productions
Prepare all your arguments and those of the other view in
point form before you begin writing your piece. Some schools may have retained copies of this series and
there is a study guide at Enhance TVs website at https://
One important point to consider is that banning certain www.enhancetv.com.au/shop/home.php?cat=248
products throughout the world is rarely successful.
Marguerite O’Hara
Should plastic bags be available at supermarkets for a June 28th, 2017
small charge as any full ban is implemented? Revised July 18th, 2017

8. Design a poster to be displayed in shopping centres

that will visually express your view about plastic bags
and their uses and afterlife.

OR

Create a design for a T-shirt promoting the need for recy-

cling that could be sold quite cheaply with profits being
used for other promotional material such as television spot
advertising.
© ATOM 2017

Can you persuade people through your visual and graphic

skills to be more thoughtful?

24
 This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2017)
ISBN: 978-1-76061-082-1 [email protected]
To download other study guides,
plus thousands of articles on Film as Text,
Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies,
visit <http://theeducationshop.com.au>.
Join ATOM’s email broadcast list for invitations to
free screenings, conferences, seminars, etc.
Sign up now at <http://www.metromagazine.com.au/email_list/>.
© ATOM 2017

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