A documentary highlighting the environmental damage caused by poorly managed waste received a special screening at the House of Commons last night (February 7).
Trashed, in which Academy Award winning actor Jeremy Irons explores the worlds most environmentally polluted places, was shown at a reception hosted by Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith. The event attracted 150 delegates.
From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the emissions created by sending waste to landfill or incineration, the documentary looks at the risks to the food chain and the environment through the pollution of air, land and sea.
Due to the nature of some of its content, it has been championed by the UK Without Incineration Network (UK WIN), with over 40 UK WIN members attending the showing.
The film was first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012 and opened in cinemas in the US in December 2012. The film is set to be released in UK cinemas and on DVD in April 2013.
Sustainability
Mr Irons said: Weve make this movie because there are so many people who feel strongly the urgent need for the problem of waste and sustainability to be addressed.
There is an equally urgent need for the most imaginative and productive solutions to this troublesome subject to be understood and shared by as many communities as possible throughout the world. This is where movies can play such an important role, educating society, bringing difficult subjects to the broadest possible audience.
In one part of the film, Jeremy Irons stands on a beach beside the Lebanese city of Sidon. Above him towers a mountain of medical waste, household waste, toxic fluids and dead animalsthe result of thirty years of consumption by one city. As the days new consignments are tipped on top, Mr Irons says it is appalling.
Film director Candida Brady spent over two years researching and filming the documentary.
She said: As a lifelong asthmatic I have always been interested in the effects of pollution. But it was meeting an environmental doctor (who saved my life) that opened my eyes to the direct effects the environment has on our health. When I was young I was the only kid with an inhalerthese days its fast becoming the opposite.
To view a trailer of the film, click here.
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