5 eye-opening retail waste realities from Netflix doc ‘Buy Now’

Consumerism’s darker side often goes unnoticed amid the convenience of modern shopping habits.

But Netflix’s popular new documentary Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy has brought to light some shocking truths about the environmental impact of unchecked consumerism.

From relentless waste production to deceptive marketing, these eye-opening takeaways reveal what our buying behaviour is doing to the planet and the corporations that are perpetuating it.

1. Rapid clothing production

Every minute, clothing manufacturers produce an astonishing 190,000 garments. That’s double the volume of production in 2000.

While these numbers speak to the efficiency of modern production, they also highlight the overwhelming influx of clothing items entering the global market.

In fact, this rapid production is outpacing demand and significantly contributing to landfill overflow. Approximately 65% of newly purchased clothing items are thrown away within a year.

MORE: Fashion waste: Why brands are destroying their own products

2. E-waste surge

The world produces 68,733 phones every hour. And according to one expert in the doc, the world bins 13 million phones every day, adding to the mountain of electronic waste (e-waste) that poses severe disposal challenges.

Serious environmental problems occur when e-waste – which often contains toxic substances, such as lead and mercury – ends up in landfill and leaches into soil and water systems.

Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy accuses corporations of exasperating the problem by deliberately making electronics difficult to repair or to have short lifespans, known as “planned obsolescence.”

3. Intentional product destruction

Alarmingly, a lot of the waste generated by the biggest corporations is intentionally damaged to prevent its sale.

For example, large fashion brands slash garments to prevent them being sold at huge discounts or donated, lowering the value of their brands.

One Amazon warehouse in the UK was found to be destroying 130,000 items a week. Because other vendors sell through Amazon and use its warehouse for inventory, it’s often cheaper to throw unsold goods away than to pay for their storage.

4. Plastic production explosion

Global plastic production has now reached 12 tonnes every second, intensifying pollution concerns worldwide.

Plastic waste, especially single-use, is difficult to dispose of. It often ends up choking marine ecosystems and persists in the environment for centuries.

MORE: Plastics you can recycle: a UK guide to sorting plastics

While unrecyclable plastic can be diverted to energy for waste, the real solution is to reduce production at the source.

5. Global waste redistribution

Large landfill site in Indonesia

Developed nations often export their waste to developing countries, where limited recycling infrastructure fails to process these materials effectively.

Even donated clothes are overwhelming countries like Ghana, which receives 15 million garments a week (the country has a population of 30 million). The clothes often get dumped or washed onto beaches.

Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy calls for a re-evaluation of our consumption patterns. Embracing sustainable practices like buying less, supporting ethical brands, and prioritizing quality over quantity can help reduce the environmental toll of consumerism.

Efforts to recycle are important, but ultimately, sustainability starts with the first four principals of the five Rs of waste management: refuse, reduce, reuse, and repurpose.

SunEnviro champions proper waste management, including recycling and energy from waste. But the group is also passionate about responsible resource management. If you’re a business or construction company dealing with high volumes of waste, schedule a call with one of our experts today to discuss how we can help you reduce your waste management bill the sustainable way.