War on Waste: Craig Reucassel's serious message continues

Craig Reucassel credits his solo television presenting success to “an element of luck” but he is, of course, being just as down-to-earth as he appears on screen.

When you’ve been part of an iconic satirical troupe such as The Chaser, it is actually harder to break out as an individual television presenter with a serious message.

That’s why Reucassel’s role on War on Waste has showcased his clever mix of an engaging, laid-back presenting style with some hard-hitting messages about environmental waste.

It’s also displayed a key ingredient to his success: approachability.

“It’s been a very surprising effect of the show,” Reucassel admits. “I really do have a lot of people interact with me about how they’ve changed and what they’re doing, showing me pictures of their bin, that kind of thing.”

“But it’s really good, because we were trying to make sure we didn’t just tell a shock story about waste, that we said ‘hey look, there are things we can do ourselves.’ I really like the way people took that on.”

Now returning for a second series on the ABC, fresh from a Logies win for most outstanding factual or documentary program, the series is set to explore issues including technological products discarded as e-waste and the use of plastic versus paper straws.

With the 41-year-old at the helm, it will continue to lift the lid on Australia’s pressing waste issues.

“There’s a great team of people who work on this and I’ve learnt from them too,” Reucassel says. “A lot of stuff isn’t scripted, a lot of it is about the actual, natural response to something and that was really enjoyable actually, to not necessarily have a script for some parts of the show.

“I think it is definitely the case not all of us were wanted to be too judgemental about it because the reality is a large proportion of people, myself included, didn’t know they were doing the wrong thing or what they could do,” he says. “It’s more about saying ‘let’s figure out solutions’.”

Reucassel admits after his involvement in the first series he even looked around his own house to find further things to recycle. “I’m not putting myself out to be the best case, I’ve never claimed I’m the best, I’m kind of learning along on then journey just like everyone else,” he says.

He is rightfully proud, though, of the effect it has had already in the community.

“I wouldn’t have done this series if it wasn’t something I was interested in and passionate about, I think we should be reducing our footprint on the world massively … but there was luck involved in being asked to do it and I’ve learnt an enormous amount and loved it,” Reucassel says.

With the removal of free plastic bags by major retailers including Woolworths and Coles, it is clear big business has been galvanised into action.

“I was really surprised when Woolies and then Coles made that announcement. I think the project [War on Waste] did a lot of great stuff on that as well and there’s obviously a lot of pressure coming from other parts of the community,” Reucassel says.

Now he would like to see more change at a legislative level.

“The response from the public was really great and the response from some businesses was good. I think, still, I think there’s a lot of stuff that needs to happen at policy level that’s not necessarily happening. I really hope we can have the maturity to do that … hopefully, we’ll see.”

• War on Waste 
•  Tuesday July 24, ABC, 8.30pm.