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The Documentary: Life Changes: What we can do with our waste

What we can do with our waste

18/04/2020 GMT

Life Changes

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Life Changes, What we can do with our waste

Two very different uses for everyday waste in Paraguay and Sweden

The Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay, and Sweden's waste-to-energy plant: two very different uses for some of the world's household rubbish.

Every year we produce over 2 billion tonnes of solid waste worldwide. Most of it ends up in dumps or landfills, or is thrown into the oceans, or is burned. Only a small fraction is ever recycled. But are there other, more creative uses for all that rubbish? To try and find some answers, BBC Mundo reporter Lucia Blasco visits Paraguay to meet the inspiring young musicians of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, whose instruments are made out of rubbish from the city's main landfill; and she travels to the city of Linköping in southern Sweden, where almost all the houses are heated by energy produced by incinerating waste. 

Photo: A member of the Orquesta de Instrumentos Reciclados de Cateura (credit: Lucia Blasco)

The Documentary: Life Changes

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