To Burn or Not To Burn
There's a new push in Australia to build incinerators to burn our waste. Is this the way to go? Those clever Swedes think so. Foreign Correspondent sends War on Waste's Craig Reucassel to Sweden to investigate.
As Australia grapples with growing piles of waste, the idea of burning it is getting some heavyweight backers, the federal energy minister among them.
So will incineration work? Can it be clean? Is it cost-effective?
And if we invest in this technology at a time when China has stopped taking a lot of our recyclables, will this mean our recyclables end up being burnt?
Sweden is held up as a leader in managing waste. And as one of the world's biggest innovators, it's also one of the biggest incinerators.
So War on Waste's Craig Reucassel goes to Sweden to see if it holds the solution to Australia's waste crisis.
The Swedes only landfill one per cent of their waste and their government goes so far as to claim a phenomenal 99 per cent recycling rate. In many places, their food waste is collected and made into bio-fuel for their Volvos.
In the capital Stockholm, each time their kerbside wheelie bins are emptied, a sensor beeps and the household gets billed. So if they put their bins out less, they pay less. "We save money just by sorting our garbage," says resident Sara Jarnhed.
But the centrepiece of Sweden's waste management strategy is its chain of 34 vast waste furnaces that turn waste into energy for power and heating.
Sweden even makes about $100 million a year from importing waste, burning thousands of tonnes from Britain and other countries who don't know what else to do with it – and pay Sweden to get rid of it.
Problem solved? Not so fast. As Australia considers whether to go down the incineration road, Craig Reucassel follows the waste trail in Sweden to discover that we do have plenty to learn from Sweden's experience - but not all of it is good.
Presenter - Craig Reucassel
Producer - Deborah Richards
Camera - Mathew Marsic
Editor - Nikki Stevens
Executive Producer - Marianne Leitch
Trailer
Recently Updated Shows
Ludwig
When John ‘Ludwig' Taylor's identical twin, DCI James Taylor, disappears off the face of the earth, John takes over his brother's identity in a quest to discover his whereabouts. John has never married; never had a family and never really ventured further than his own front door. Without a computer, mobile phone or even a television, he lives in quiet solitude, designing puzzles for a living, under the nom-de-plume of ‘Ludwig'.
This genre bending detective series follows full-time luddite, John 'Ludwig' Taylor, as he assumes the identity of his missing twin brother in a bid to track him down and bring him home. However, filling the shoes of your identical twin is one thing - when your twin also happens to be a successful DCI leading Cambridge's busy inner-city major crimes team the stakes are much higher. John may be a master of all things cryptic, but can he crack the biggest puzzle of his life?
Horror's Greatest
Celebrating the very best the genre has to offer, Horror's Greatest is a deep dive into everything we love about horror. From fresh looks at classics to unearthing scores of hidden gems, this series has something for every fright film enthusiast. A gallery of ghoulish pros, including actors, directors, writers, composers, and special effects artists, draw on their unique knowledge to answer the big questions: What are the must-see films in horror's many sub-genres? What's the appeal of horror tropes, and how do today's filmmakers subvert our expectations? What shape does horror take in countries outside of the United States? The answers encompass the breath of the nightmares we watch for our entertainment.
Gen V
From the world of The Boys comes Gen V, a thrilling new series set at America's only college for superheroes. These gifted students put their moral boundaries to the test, competing for the university's top ranking, and a chance to join The Seven, Vought International's elite superhero team. When the school's dark secrets come to light, they must decide what kind of heroes they want to become.