The Recycling Myth

directed: Tom Costello & Benedict Wermter NO 2022 53m

In recent years, the plastic crisis has worsened. Images of dead animals and polluted oceans go around the world. The packaging industry thinks it has a solution to the problem: recycling. "100% recyclable" is printed on more and more bottles, boxes and bags. But if recycling really is the solution, why is more virgin plastic being produced today than ever before? Could recycling really be nothing more than "greenwashing"? This film takes a close look at an industry that would rather hide the problem than solve it. The authors track down garbage brokers who illegally dump plastic waste abroad, industries that make money from incinerating garbage, and mafia networks that now make as much money from smuggling garbage as they do from human trafficking. The film shows how some of the world's largest consumer goods companies use recycling as an excuse to continue polluting without consequences. We all live in a world drowning in garbage and this film asks the question: who is profiting from the plastic crisis?