Anyone watching Dumped?

Rubbish isn’t it. Sorry to rant, but I can’t believe that the program ever intended to highlight recycling issues. It’s the same old reality TV gimmick dressed up in green clothing, with poor Rob Holdway trying to hold the eco fort. The contestants might as well be bickering in the Big Brother house, lounging on a remote island, or at any of the other random locations for this kind of thing. The focus is the relationship between them rather than ours with the planet.
When I first heard about it, I’ll admit, I was impressed. At last, a television series that would flag up the problem of landfill, I thought. It would make the important point that there is no ‘away’. When we dump bags of rubbish outside our houses to be picked up by the council, they do not magically disappear. They simply get taken somewhere else. Like a trip to a sewage works, I’ve always strongly believed in visit to landfill sites, something some schools (like this one) already do. I also liked the idea that while all the contestants imagined they would be going to some far-flung destination to help the environment, the location was actually right on their doorstep. A landfill site in Croyden. Then it leaked that the site, although next to a real one, had been staged. The rubbish was handpicked. Enough poles and tarpaulins are carefully strewn around to build a shelter. Now the show is underway, it’s even worse. Worryingly, the contestants I like the most - Darren, for example, who cracks into a spanking new triple pack of pants and socks every three days – are the least green. When he leaves, telling the others he’d rather take his wife on holiday and that he thinks the show is pointless, I feel quite pleased. An unlikely green hero.

Comments

[Abi]

I agree it's not exactly inspiring for Eco-worriers, but I figure that if it teaches at least some of the Big Brother-viewing population about the existence of landfill (since at least one of the contestants wasn't even aware prior to being Dumped) then the programme has achieved something. Certainly more than another week of Big Brother!

[Luis]

Great post!

If the economics don't work, recycling efforts won't either.
As our little contribution to make this economics of recycling more appealing, http://LivePaths.com blogs about people and companies that make money selling recycled or reused items, provide green services or help us reduce our dependency on non renewable

[Tracy]

I agree with you Anna, it is rubbish. I forced myself to sit through half of the first episode, but it's just so boring. I'm not sure that anyone can learn anything from watching this programme, if anything it may risk turning people off environmental issues. It's unfortunate that it's turned out so badly.