PLAY TELEVISION SPECIAL LIFTS LID ON BIN SINS

On Waste aired over just three episodes this year, but the TV show sparked discussions about waste levels, and encouraged many people to make changes.

Host Craig Reucassel was surprised at how quickly people adopted new habits.

“So many people were coming up to me in the street … and showing me pictures of their bin and contacting us; it just engaged people more than I expected,” Reucassel said.

Some of the changes people made were obvious. The rise in reusable coffee cups is a visible example, but the show also had an impact at a higher level.

“I’m not claiming the show caused this, but the thing that probably surprised me the most was when Woolworths and then Coles … decided to get rid of those singleuse plastic bags,” he said.

The host is back to revisit some of these issues in a one- off War On Waste special.

“The area I’m probably most disappointed with is in the food waste, and fruit and veg on farms. There’s a little bit of change there but I think there’s a lot of barriers in the way to solving some of those problems and I just feel a lot of pushback on some of those issues,” he said. “But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many things I can show in this episode that have moved along a little bit.

“We follow up on plastic bag recycling and the changes in that, coffee cups and food waste but we’re also looking at the container deposit stuff and how much plastic bottles and cans and all that are making their way into our waste system, and making our way into the rivers as well. That was one of the big issues that we didn’t get to … so it’s great to be able to touch on it.”