Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy Netflix documentary highlights important issue

An AI generated image of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge buried in mountains of rubbish has hammered home the sheer scale of electronic waste we throw away each year.

E-waste, discarded laptops, phones and TVs that are broken or obsolete, has surged to approximately 50 million tonnes each year. Yet, less than a quarter of it is properly recycled, according to the World Health Organization. 

A documentary released on Netflix this week, Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy, aimed to conceptualise the scale of the problem with an AI-generated image of the world’s e-waste dumped on Sydney.

The documentary, directed by Emmy nominee Nic Stacey, is out just ahead of the annual Black Friday shopping craze, and sheds light on the tricks the big brands use to manipulate consumers.

Worldwide, e-waste is rising by millions of tonnes annually and is expected to hit more than 82 million tonnes by 2030.

The proportion of that waste that’s left unrecycled is estimated to be worth US$62 million in recoverable natural resources – valuable metals like lithium.

The discarded waste is also a health hazard if not recycled properly, with charging cables and batteries containing toxic substances like mercury, which can damage the human brain.

Recycling facilities in India have been found to release mercury, zinc and lead into local water and soil.  

Simply discarding e-waste in landfill along with regular waste is enough to release the toxins, the WHO said. So is scavenging the devices or burning them without following the right practice. 

In Australia, more than half a million tonnes of e-waste were generated in 2019, according to Clean Up Australia, and only about a third of the materials in the e-waste were recovered.

The average Aussie produced 20 kg of e-waste, compared with a global average of 7kg. 

But laptops and phones shouldn’t go to landfill – more than 90 per cent of the components in them can be recycled. 

Aussies also used 3.5 million tonnes of plastic in 2016-2017, with about 180,100 tonnes reprocessed in Australia and 235,100 tonnes sent overseas.

Following China’s decision in 2017 to stop accepting rubbish meant recyclable waste was diverted to poorer nations in south-east Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia, which are now inundated with rubbish.

Much of the plastic sent to Indonesia ends up in landfill or the sea

In 2020, Australia banned the export of unprocessed waste – it now only sends glass, plastic and other materials overseas that meets strict regulations. The law was aimed at encouraging local recycling and preventing materials getting dumped overseas. 

But for years, Indonesians have called on Australia to stop exporting its waste there. 

Indonesia’s a key export market for waste paper and cardboard, buying the material from Aussie companies to turn it into other products. 

In 2023-2024, Australia sent more than 500,000 tonnes of the stuff there.

But activists say the Aussie waste is still tainted with plastics, ruining their environment and making them sick.

Indonesian factories don’t have the capacity to deal with the plastics, which are eventually dumped in fields and rivers, and broken down into microplastics. 

A study released earlier this year estimated that Indonesians consume about 15 grams of microplastics per month – equivalent to the size of an ATM card.

Most of the tiny plastic particles are ingested by people when they eat fish and other seafood. 

There’s also concern that Australia is about to be inundated of old batteries from the burgeoning electric car market.  

The recycling industry is not ready for an influx of electric car batteries, an inquiry was told

Earlier this year a federal inquiry into waste and recycling was told that Australia’s battery recycling industry is in ‘crisis’ and unprepared for an influx of electric vehicles. 

Recycling facilities are already struggling with too few collection points and a lack of guidance and standards about battery recycling, Australian Council of Recycling chief executive Suzanne Toumbourou told the inquiry. 

The country needs clear rules on battery labelling, transport and disposal, including a ban on dumping them in landfill, before local facilities can break down and process electric vehicle batteries, Toumbourou said. 

The committee is expected to report back in March 2025.