Name: Inside the Garbage of the World
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2016-03-08
Duration: 53 min
Rating: 7
Cast: Anna Cummins, Charles Moore

Film says landfills and recycling are bad, but doesn't say why.

Great first 40 minutes of film show us beautifully that millions of tons of plastic enter the oceans every year, break into tiny pieces which carry poisons into the fish which eat them (virtually every species everywhere, since plastics outnumber plankton), and the poisons continue into chicken and vegetables grown with ground-up fish meal, and finally poisons are concentrated in us. 

The movie also says thousands of microscopic plastic fibers in clothing (acrylic, polyester) fall out into the water each time they're washed, so these fibers flow into oceans and food chains. 

Then the movie falls apart in the last 15 minutes. Of course we mustn't throw plastic in the oceans or hillsides, but the film never speaks to most of us who dispose of plastic properly into lined landfills or recycling. How does that get into the oceans? The movie says a couple of times that nothing can really be thrown away, because "there is no 'away'." I can believe there are problems, and I understand that landfills can erode and release plastic in future decades, but are they causing the current crisis? Can they be designed better? 

If the problem is that many regions don't have good landfills, then we need to help create more good landfills. If the problem is that landfills don't work, we need to stop using plastic. The movie also says recycling is green-washing. Why? 

Is there any way to capture plastic clothing fibers, in filters or septic systems, or should we stop washing all plastic fibers?

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

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Inside the Garbage of the World

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