The average person produces 4.5 pounds of waste a day, and most of that goes into landfills. This is an unsustainable way to live, which is why the documentary “A Plastic Ocean” has been making waves in recent years. In addition to being a powerful story about how our addiction to plastics is affecting the environment, it also offers hope for a zero-waste lifestyle with practical tips from those who have already found success living it themselves. These are 15 zero waste documentaries you can watch right now that will inspire you to make changes in your own life – starting today.
Deciding to live a more Eco-friendly life is a big step, but there are all kinds of ways you can ease into it. Zero waste living in the practice of reusing and recycling as much as possible entails eschewing single-use products for those that can be reused again and again. Living zero waste makes you feel proud about your role in keeping unnecessary items from consuming landfill space or polluting our waters and air. It’s good for the planet—and good for your pocketbook too!
Living zero waste takes some time to adjust to, but it gets easier with practice. Watching documentaries on the subject will inspire you to move away from wasteful habits and towards a greener lifestyle. You’ll see how easy it is to be zero waste and how your life will transform when you are. Read on for 15 zero waste documentaries that will inspire you to embrace zero waste.
Table of Contents
A list of zero waste documentaries:
1) “Trashed” (2012)
This British film is a great introduction to the consequences of our consumerist lifestyles—and why they’re not good for the planet. It follows several friends who try living with no trash for three weeks as part of a wrong experiment. As they go about their daily routines, it becomes clear how often we discard things without thinking. Returning products after their warranty runs out or buying plastic water bottles because the tap water tastes funny are some of the mind-boggling habits noted in this documentary. A must watch to understand the extent of our trash problem.
2) “Garbage Dreams” (2009)
![Garbage Dreams [DVD] [2009]](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossy,ret_img,w_500,h_500/https://www.ecomasteryproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/6147sMza-6L._SL500_.webp)
This film sheds light on a community outside Cairo that is entirely built and run by garbage pickers. Garbage pickers like these work in an informal economy, and their lives and families are put at risk. This documentary will make you rethink the items we label as ‘waste.’ It’s no exaggeration to say that we live our lives surrounded by garbage bags full of things other people deem useless or unsightly but which are just waiting to be recycled.
3) “Vegucated” (2011)
If watching documentaries on the garbage problem makes you sad, this light-hearted one is perfect for a pick-me-up. The film follows three meat-eaters who agree only to eat vegetarian food for six weeks while receiving guidance from an animal rights activist and a nutritionist. This entertaining film will show you the many benefits of eating less meat and more plants: weight loss, better skin, and so much more! It will help you appreciate how much we take our home-cooked meals—and the ingredients we use to make them—for granted. You’ll also see that there are so many items you can buy that are already zero waste, like veggie chips and shampoo bars.
4) “The Clean Bin Project” (2011)
If you think living zero waste is too intimidating because it seems complicated, this film will motivate you. This inspiring documentary follows a married couple who attempt to recycle or compost as much of their household’s trash as possible for six months. They start by removing all the garbage from their home and examining each item they throw out more closely—and end up making some surprising discoveries along the way. Eventually, they find that recycling isn’t always the more Eco-friendly option, and composting can put a strain on your household resources. This documentary will show you that recycling isn’t always the answer.
5) “The Story of Stuff” (2010)
A classic among zero wasters, this 20-minute documentary looks at how we consume too much and how it affects us. It questions whether more stuff will make us happier and examines why we buy so much. You can probably answer these questions yourself, but it’s worth watching to spur you on to minimize your waste. This is a great one for introducing zero wasters to your friends—it will give them food for thought!
6) “Trash Inc: The Secret Life of Garbage” (2012)
This film follows garbage collectors in Baltimore, Maryland, as they go about picking up the trash from households and businesses around the city. These are unsung heroes who keep our streets clean, but their role in the process often goes unnoticed by consumers. It shows how complicated recycling can be—there are different sorting rules everywhere! If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you throw something away, this documentary is for you.
7) “Landfill Harmonic” (2014)
This documentary follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura; a Paraguayan musical group made up of kids who live next to one of South America’s largest landfills. The orchestra is led by their music teacher, who is determined to help the children learn music even though they don’t have access to instruments. Watching them create beautiful melodies with trash is truly inspiring! It shows how creativity can flourish anywhere—even in the most unexpected places.
8) “Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story” (2013)
The title pretty much explains this documentary’s premise: it follows activists Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin as they on discarded food for six months. The pair visits about 30 different supermarkets to find out how much food is thrown away daily. They spend the second half of the movie living exclusively off what would otherwise be wasted and share their experiences in the film’s conclusion. It may seem like an extreme idea at first, but watching them live this way is eye-opening.
9) “A Plastic Ocean” (2016)
This documentary highlights just how much plastic there is floating in our oceans right now—and it’s only getting worse. Despite recycling initiatives, most plastic still ends up in landfills. Even if you don’t live near the ocean, these plastics are likely making their way into your water supply if they aren’t picked up by beach cleans and other cleanup efforts. Plastic breaks down over time, but it never fully disappears: the smaller pieces are known as “microplastics” and can even be found in beer and table salt! If we all made a conscious effort to cut down on our plastic use, we could prevent a lot of this from happening—and that’s something worth fighting for.
10) “Trashopolis” (2014)
This film takes an intimate look at how trash affects people living in two different cities: Cairo and Seattle. We follow the lives of several garbage collectors there as they go about their daily routines. Although it focuses on the worst parts of the waste cycle, it is eye-opening to watch what happens when trash piles up around these communities. If you have a family member who works in waste management, this documentary can give you a perspective on their job that few people understand.
11) “Wasted! The Story of Food Waste” (2017)
This film follows author and activist Tristram Stuart as he travels worldwide to study food after humans consume it. He looks at how much edible food is thrown away every year and why and examines how we can cut down on that number. We don’t take enough responsibility for our trash—a problem only exacerbated by irresponsible organizations like grocery stores and restaurants. We need everyone to make an effort if we ever want to stop wasting so much valuable food!
12) “Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” (2013)
This film provides a detailed examination of just how much plastic we’re dumping into our oceans each year—and it’s overwhelming! It follows marine biologist Captain Charles Moore on a journey to the infamous “Garbage Patch,” an area of our sea filled with millions upon millions of pieces of floating plastic. In addition to showcasing this massive problem, it also offers possible solutions to stop it from growing. What’s most shocking is that only about 20 percent of all plastics are being recycled, so there’s no excuse for not doing our part!
13) “American Blackout” (2013)
This thought-provoking documentary follows award-winning journalist Glynn Washington as he looks at just how close America has come to a complete power outage. It took less than 24 hours for New York City to descend into chaos when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012—and many people were caught unprepared. After interviewing several professionals and hearing their grim predictions, it’s clear that we’d better start preparing for any modern emergency.
14) “The Clean Bin Project” (2013)
This film tells the story of a married couple who decided to try living without trash in their home. Both were intrigued by zero waste, but it took only one weekend in a landfill to convince them that this way of life might be worth pursuing. It follows them throughout the entire year as they collect everything from plastic water bottles to cigarette butts—and when you see how much stuff they generate, you’ll be shocked! Although this documentary is pretty lighthearted at times, it offers a great overview of what waste is all about.
15) “The Story of Bottled Water” (2011)
This sobering film takes a look at the bottled water industry and its many pitfalls. It’s hard to believe that in America, we spend more money on water than any other nation when you can get it perfectly fresh from your kitchen faucet. This documentary focuses on the environmental impact of plastic waste, along with how much oil is used to produce all those bottles—and staggering numbers like this are enough to discourage even the most hopeful person. Thankfully, several organizations are working to prevent our addiction to single-use plastics!
16) “American Plastic” (2018)
If you’ve ever taken a drive through one of our country’s many suburbs, you’ll know just how prevalent plastic waste is in the United States. This film looks at what happens when an entire city starts to take responsibility for its garbage. Focusing on one man’s journey from trash collector to sanitation engineer shows us just how much potential lies within our cities to become zero-waste communities. These are only a few of the many documentaries that have inspired me over the years, so I hope you give them all a chance! You might be surprised by what you learn or relieved that you’re not alone in this fight against waste and environmental destruction. There is no pressure, but we need our whole planet to do its part if we ever want future generations to inherit a healthy world.
Conclusion
Suppose you’re looking for a way to get started on living more sustainably or want some new ideas on how to reduce your waste. In that case, these documentaries will provide plenty of inspiration. From the inspiring stories in The Great Warming that show what people are doing around the world to protect their local environments and communities from climate change, all the way down to small but impactful everyday changes like using reusable bags instead of plastic ones at grocery stores, there is something here for everyone. So check out this list today and find one (or two) that speak to you.
