There is no doubt Australia is one of the most wasteful nations in the world, so the practice of recycling helps to lessen our guilt. As we drag our bins out for collection each week, we feel like we’re helping the environment. But the reality is that we’re all being conned.

Right now, Australia is stuck in an unsightly and worsening recycling crisis. What is being done with plastic waste, the material most people think would be easy to salvage and re-use, is of the greatest concern. As Liam Bartlett discovers, most of it ends up either being buried or worse – exported to countries like Malaysia, a place we are now treating like a garbage bin.