Building on the latest Sustainable Sunday Quote, this article will dive deeper into the topic of waste. In case you missed it, the quote of last Sunday was by Annie Leonard, and it stated: "There is no such thing as 'away'. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere". Rarely have I heard something so true, yet so complicated to apply. Because let's be honest, we create a lot of trash. Not only is this incredibly irresponsible due to the harmful consequences it had on the environment, but even worse; we often completely neglect the issue. Most of us simply continue our consumerist practices. However, recently I stumbled upon a documentary that might shake you awake: 'Trashed'.



Trashed
Trashed is the award-winning documentary by Candida Brady. “We buy it, we bury it, we burn it and then we ignore it." That is how the trailer of the documentary starts, summarising the core of the problem in a few, powerful words. The documentary highlights not only the harmful repercussions on the environment, it brings it a lot closer to us, by showing how our waste imposes risk on our food chain, through the pollution of our air, soil and water. To do so the star of the film, Jeremy Irons, moves from Iceland to Indonesia. Showing not only daunting images of wasteland but also giving us a sneak peak into the most beautiful corners of our world. Even though the documentary is a definite wake-up call, it ends on a positive note, showing how sustainable approaches to dealing with waste are available and making you wonder why landfills and incinerators even still exist. Next to that it shows how these sustainable approaches can provide more jobs than the current consumerist waste industry.

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