What happens after you throw something away?

For most of us, the story ends at the bin. The lid closes. The truck comes. The material disappears.

Physically, almost nothing has disappeared. Ownership has changed. Responsibility has changed. And very often, value has changed.

That moment is where an enormous industry begins.

This episode opens Season 7 of The Industry of Waste by following that moment across six places: Fresh Kills in New York, Jardim Gramacho in Rio, Terra dei Fuochi in Italy, South Africa’s invisible recycling workforce, Guiyu in China, and New South Wales, where ten cents changed the behaviour of an entire waste stream.

Different materials. Different economies. Same mechanism.

The cheapest way to get rid of waste is often cheap only because part of the real cost has been moved somewhere else. ...