The ABC’s War on Waste will return on Tuesday 24 July to tackle new targets including plastic water bottles, straws, e-waste and furniture waste.
The series will also explore previous topics such as food waste and the recycling crisis.
More than 4.3 million viewers watched the original series in 2017, which sparked one of the ABC’s most successful social media campaigns with a video on dumping edible bananas reaching 20 million views.
The series inspired Australians to get involved about waste management, with KeepCup sales rising 400 per cent after the series, Woolworth and Coles announcing lightweight plastic bags in the series, and reusable coffee cup scheme Responsible Cafes went from having 420 cafes to 1050 a week after the broadcast.
Craig Reucassel will return as host and aims to expose the effects of e-waste from discarded laptops, mobile phones and electronic goods in landfill.
ABC ME is also launching a new eight-episode series for children called Project Planet that aims to demonstrate how everyone can make a difference for sustainability.
ABC Director of Entertainment & Specialist David Anderson said War on Waste highlights the ABC’s capacity to spark national conversations and drive community action and social change.
“The distinctively ABC series empowers people to take immediate steps to reduce their consumption of plastic and electronic goods, and wastage of coffee cups and food. Waste is a universal issue, it impacts everyone,” he said.
The announcement comes after the Western Australian Government this week revealed it was considering banning plastic straws, after originally ruling out such a decision.
“I regard plastic as the enemy of the Earth and I’ve thought this for years, because I’ve seen the impact on marine life and terrestrial life,” Premier Mark McGowan told ABC Radio Perth.
Single-use plastic bags will be banned across the state from July 1.
To read more about how the original War on Waste series go it wrong when it comes to coffee cup recycling, click here, and read BeanScene’s Cup of Truth story.