Waste vol. 1

While Paris, the City of Lights, shines brightly, hidden in its shadows are fascinating installations, put in place nearly two centuries ago: the sewers. Even today, this 2,600-kilometer-long labyrinth of streets and infrastructure ensures the sanitation of the entire capital. In 1854, during Haussmann's grand urban renewal projects in Paris, the French engineer Eugène Belgrand undertook one of the century's largest construction projects: the renovation of the Paris sewers. His main innovation: an ingenious dual network that simultaneously treats wastewater and delivers drinking water to Parisians.

Waste Not is a film about where your garbage goes, who sorts it for you, and what it is worth if it isn't just tossed into landfill. It's easier and cheaper to retrieve gold from old computers for instance, than to dig it up. Organics can be used to create fertiliser and green electricity and yet each Australian sends half a tonne of food waste to landfill each year where it is contaminated with chemicals and e-waste. We recycle only 50% of all our waste. There is an alternative to environmental apocalypse and we don't have to wait for the politicians to make it happen. All we really need to do is be creative and use our imaginations to turn this waste into wealth again. Waste Not talks to scientists, workers at waste depots, environment campaigners, gardeners and even a famous chef about how easy it is to save the planet by simply recycling properly.

Evie Lake introduces The Magic Hat Cafe, an anti-food waste cafe in Newcastle. In today’s climate, it’s hard not to worry about waste. Not just our own, but that of supermarkets and suppliers. Is every carrot, potato and piece of meat going to be used? What happens if they’re not? Magic Hat acts on these worries and turns would-be-wasted produce into meals and experiences for people to enjoy. Magic Hat is an innovative and progressive organisation in the way that it puts people first. Instead of purchasing your coffee and food, there’s an option to pay it back by working for them for a few hours. They also let people volunteer to learn new skills, to make themselves more employable and, in addition to being an environmentally conscious operation which eradicates waste in their supply chain, their sustainability also feeds directly into the community through food bank donations, education and delicious food.

A group of five people with different backgrounds challenge themselves by driving 200 miles along Australia's east coast, using vegetable oil as fuel and their own food sourced from waste containers. Without money, but with great commitment, the trip will be a test of both the endurance of the travelers and the society, whose overproduction ends up in the waste pile. An adventure with dedicated "dumpster dive" experts Paul and Mykel as guides. On the trip they also take Nick from Scotland, Swedish student Sofia and Krystal who just have to get away from Brisbane for a while.

A powerful visual journey into the heart of a gut-wrenching environmental tragedy, while delivering a profound message of healing and renewal.

Gimme Green is a humorous look at the American obsession with the residential lawn and the effects it has on our environment, our wallets and our outlook on life. From the limitless subdivisions of Florida to sod farms in the arid southwest, Gimme Green peers behind the curtain of the $40-billion industry that fuels our nation's largest irrigated crop-the lawn.

Author and cook David Groß travels through five European countries and cooks exclusively what others throw in the garbage bin. With great thirst for knowledge, he tracks food waste and presents unexpected solutions. In an unusual and humorous self-attempt David Groß questions our daily consumer lifestyle.

What happens to the food we digest after it leaves our body? Is it waste that is thrown away or a resource that can be reused? In search of answers, director Rubén Abruña embarks on an investigative and entertaining search through 16 cities on four continents. He follows the trail of feces from the long sewers of Paris to a huge sewage treatment plant in Chicago.

Houcine is a 64-year-old rag and bone amongst hundreds of them in Casablanca and whose valuable work is almost invisible. The decision of the local authorities to abolish the carts drawn by animals threatens to wipe their livelihood in the name of the modernization of Casablanca which wants to be a "Smart City". The film follows Houcine's daily routine despite his multiple health concerns.

A short film on throw-away culture and TV

A festival of digestion on many scales, from planetary to microbial.

River Lis runs polluted through Leiria. It's been 50 years since the first pig farm was installed in the region. Since then, people have lived with the consequences of countless crimes against the environment and a shocking lack of justice. The children that remember when the water was clean, now grandparents, share their story of resistance and fight against pollution.