Documentary film festival "Uncomfortable cinema" invites attention to inconvenient but relevant environmental issues and seeks solutions to ecological problems caused by the modern consumer society. This year, one of the most important topics of the "Green" program is waste recycling. It will be guided by the documentary "Plastic China" and the discussion "Waste therapy: recycling is not allowed to pollute" initiated by the largest packaging waste management organization "Green Dot".
Countless items are thrown away every day, from disposable cups to electrical appliances. It is often believed that it is cheaper to buy a new item than to repair a broken one. The lax attitude towards waste and the global problems it raises has suggested the uncomfortable but necessary topic of waste therapy.
"Modern consumer society creates an excess of waste. We can no longer ignore the direct connection between our daily choices and their future consequences. We are part of an international network uniting European manufacturers and importers, so we contribute to solving global problems. By initiating an open discussion between society, state and business representatives, we are looking for measures that we must take now, in order to change consumer habits and fundamentally rethink the flawed waste value chain," says Simona, marketing and communication manager of the largest licensed packaging waste management organization in Lithuania, "Žaliasis taškas" Rainfall.
In the organized discussion, participants of the waste management sector, environmental experts and enthusiasts will discuss the possibilities of easy and convenient sorting, break the myths of waste collection and recycling, and name the most effective methods of waste therapy. The discussion aims to make waste not only a dirty, repulsive topic, but also a promising raw material of the future that fulfills the principles of circular economy.
The discussion will be moderated by journalist Rasa Tapinienė, experience and ideas will be shared by Agnė Bagočiutė, director of the Waste Department of the Ministry of the Environment, Kęstutis Pocius, general director of "Žaliasis taškas", Ieva Vilkė, author of the blog "Dar kas nors" and Giedrius Bučas, founder of the social initiative "Kūrybos kampas 360".
The discussion will be preceded by a screening of the documentary "Plastic China" (2016) by Chinese director Jiu-Liang Wang. In the center of the film is an extremely popular material - plastic. Almost everything around us contains at least a part of plastic, but plastic and its waste become a real challenge to the ecological well-being of the planet: non-degradable waste pollutes the environment and threatens the future of humanity. Most of the plastic thrown away in the world ends up in China, where it is recycled in one of a hundred factories. "Plastic China" tells the story of one such factory and the people who work and live there.
Plastic China is one of the films in the Green Program presented by Awkward Cinema and Green Dot. This year's program consists of films covering a wide range of topics and issues: from the environment to modern genetic research. The "Green" program invites us to think about the problems plaguing the Earth and what still needs to be done so that we can boldly say: "The Earth is everyone's planet".
