The first episode features the owners of a landfill site in Wiltshire, who employ salvagers to find anything that can be reused, London refuse collectors, who reveal the difficulty of dealing with contaminated recycling, and the supervisor at a skip hire company, who has worked for the business since he was 11.

This episode focuses on the work of Refood, which diverts rotting food from landfill and plugs it into the National Grid. If all the food wasted by UK homes was turned into energy, it could power more than 1.2 million homes. There is also a look at Sue and John Wellfare, who have made it their mission to recycle the unrecyclable. The pair sort items by hand, from biscuit wrappers and baby-food sachets to crisp packets, and have set up drop-off points for what would otherwise end up on the ground.