Episode 3

S1, E3: There is no doubt that we live in an increasingly throwaway society. In Episode Three, presenter Craig Reucassel maintains his War on Waste by exploring the impact that coffee cups and fast fashion have on our society. It’s estimated that over 1 billion coffee cups are ending up in landfill per year. While most people believe coffee cups are recyclable, this is not quite the case. Craig catches up with the experts including Brendan Lee from Closed Loop 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 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 clothing charities are inundated with the volume of clothing coming to them, much of which now ends up in landfill at a cost to the charities. A recent audit by the City of Sydney reveals that 6 tonnes of textile and fashion waste are going to landfill in Australia every ten minutes. Craig visits Martin Place to illustrate just what a pile of this waste looks like. He tracks down four fashion-obsessed millenials and, with the help of celebrity stylist Aleysha Campbell, inspires them to slow their fashion down by going on a fashion diet. Craig returns to our “waste free” families to see what they’ve accomplished over a month. Finally, he follows up with supermarkets and recycling facilities to encourage them to make changes for the better. Will he have an impact? Only time will tell.