Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy Netflix documentary highlights important issue

An AI-generated image of the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge buried in mountains of rubbish has highlighted the enormity of the electronic waste we throw away every year.

E-waste, discarded laptops, phones and TVs that are broken or outdated, has risen to about 50 million tons per year. Yet, according to the World Health Organization, less than a quarter of it is recycled properly.

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

Directed by Emmy nominee Nic Stacey, the documentary anticipates the annual Black Friday shopping frenzy and sheds light on the tricks big brands use to manipulate consumers.

Globally, e-waste is increasing by millions of tons every year and is expected to reach more than 82 million tons by 2030.

The portion of that waste that is not recycled is estimated at $62 million in recoverable natural resources – valuable metals such as lithium.

The discarded waste is also a health hazard if not recycled properly as charging cables and batteries contain toxic substances such as 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 disposing of e-waste in a landfill, along with regular waste, is enough to release the toxins, the WHO said. This includes disposing of the devices or burning them without following proper practice.

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

The average Australian produced 20kg of electronic waste, compared to a global average of 7kg.

But laptops and phones shouldn’t go to landfill: more than 90 percent of the parts inside them can be recycled.

Australians also used 3.5 million tonnes of plastic in 2016-17, of which around 180,100 tonnes were reprocessed in Australia and 235,100 tonnes were sent overseas.

Following China’s decision in 2017 to stop accepting waste, recyclable waste was diverted to poorer countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia, which are now awash in waste.

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

In 2020, Australia banned the export of unprocessed waste – it now only sends glass, plastic and other materials abroad that meet strict regulations. The law was intended to encourage local recycling and prevent materials from being dumped abroad.

But Indonesians have been calling on Australia for years to stop exporting its waste there.

Indonesia is a major export market for waste paper and cardboard and buys the material from Australian companies to make other products.

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

But activists say Australia’s waste is still contaminated with plastic, ruining their environment and making them sick.

Indonesian factories do not have the capacity to handle the plastics, which are eventually dumped into fields and rivers and broken down into microplastics.

A study published earlier this year estimated that Indonesians consume around 15 grams of microplastics per month – equivalent to the size of a debit card.

Most small plastic particles are swallowed by people when they eat fish and other seafood.

There are also concerns that Australia is about to be flooded with old batteries due to the fast-growing electric car market.

The recycling industry is not ready for an influx of electric car batteries, a survey has been told

Earlier this year, a federal inquiry into waste and recycling found 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 guidelines and standards on battery recycling, Suzanne Toumbourou, CEO of the Australian Council of Recycling, told the inquiry.

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

The committee is expected to report in March 2025.