What we can do with our waste

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.3 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every year we produce over 2 billion tonnes of solid waste worldwide. Most of it ends up in dumps or landfills, or is thrown into the oceans, or is burned. Only a small fraction is ever recycled. But are there other, more creative uses for all that rubbish? To try and find some answers, BBC Mundo reporter Lucia Blasco visits Paraguay to meet the inspiring young musicians of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, whose instruments are made out of rubbish from the city's main landfill; and she travels to the city of Linköping in southern Sweden, where almost all the houses are heated by energy produced by incinerating waste.

This documentary is airing as part of Life Changes, a series of programmes and features across the BBC’s global TV, radio, social and online networks exploring the theme of change - how we change ourselves, our lives, and how we respond to changes in the world around us. Reporting from across the world - from Ethiopia, Korea, Rwanda and Paraguay to Egypt, the US and Russia – the documentaries and digital stories will cover a diverse range of topics, from sexuality to sustainability, from peace to war, and from neurodiversity to migration.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You probably can't tell, but this is no ordinary orchestra. My violin is made from the part of the front of a lot of pintura.
0:29.5	My violin is made from a paint count.
0:32.1	The back is held in place by a peaking tray and the strings are held in place by a fork. The instruments of this orchestra are so different from any other instrument of an orchestra you could imagine.
0:55.0	I play the saxophone.
0:57.0	I play the saxophone.
0:59.0	It's made from a drain pipe, an old tin and a key that once opened a door.
1:03.0	I never thought someone can make music out of rubbish.
1:21.0	I'm Luthia Blasco and this is what can we do with our waste? Part of the BBC World Service Life Changes series.
1:26.0	I've been on a fascinating journey to South America and Europe trying to find some answers.
1:40.0	In Paraguay, I've met the inspirational youngsters making music out of the rubbish we throw away. They've got a simple but important message to send out.
1:44.0	Each time we go on stage we tell the audience our message
1:51.0	that while they send us their rubbish we're sending back music.
1:56.2	We want them to know that rubbish doesn't have to be a problem. And I've also been to Sweden a very different reality where they are promoting a different approach to what to do with their waste.
2:11.0	Here is where we take waste and create new value out of it by making electricity, heat for the
2:21.0	district heating and also cooling for the district cooling.
2:24.4	For all the city, yeah?
2:27.0	Maybe we have come far, how we recycle and reuse, but we still consume a lot and we produce a lot because we're a rich country and I think that's where the biggest problem is for us.
2:40.0	I've come across a lot to inspire me in Sweden and Paraguay, but I've also found some things we all can learn as we all ask,
2:48.0	what can we do with our waste? Every year we produce over 2 billion tons of solid waste worldwide.
3:07.0	Most of it ends up in dumps or in landfills or is thrown into the oceans or is burned.
3:14.0	Only a small fraction is ever recycled.
3:18.0	It's said that if everyone lived like consumers in rich Western nations. We'd need up to five planets to continue
	...

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