''Wa$ted!'' is a New Zealand

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series which shows families their impact on the environment and helps them to become greener in their daily lives. The show has been acclaimed as the first show of its type. Even in production, they reduce their impact on the earth by using

hybrid cars A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids. The basic princip ...

, crew carpooling, and reusing props. The series spawned versions in 15 countries outside of New Zealand. ''Wa$ted'' was also produced as a television show most notably in the United States, and also in Canada, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, and Malaysia.

Format

Francesca and Tristan return the family's trash from the previous year at the beginning of the show. From there, they sort through the trash with the family to demonstrate what could have been recycled and the impact their trash is having on the environment. Taking into account rubbish, electricity, water, and transportation, an

ecological footprint The ecological footprint is a method promoted by the Global Footprint Network to measure human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people or an economy. It tracks this demand through an ecological accounti ...

is calculated to show how much land it would take to provide the resources for their household. They also calculate how many tones of carbon dioxide the family would emit in a year, comparing it to the national average (in New Zealand its 2.5 tones per person per year). Francesca and Tristan then help the family reduce their environmental impact. Recycling and food scrap systems are implemented and followed by dealing with heating, power consumption, water consumption, and transportation. This includes a section called Tristan's Test where Tristan tests their knowledge (usually the children) of what environment impact a simple task can do. After completing the tasks of reducing the household impact, Francesca and Tristan leave for three weeks to watch how good the families are at using the new systems. They promise to project forward any savings the family makes in those three weeks for one year and give those savings back in cash. On their return, Francesca and Tristan reveal how much the family's household footprint and

carbon dioxide emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...

have been reduced. Francesca then opens a green bucket, containing the savings they would have produced over a year, and gives the cash to the family.

Differences in series 1

In series 1 the carbon dioxide emissions and Tristan's test were not used.

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Awards and nominations

*Best Observational Format - FRAPA/C21 Format Awards 2007 *Supreme Energywise & Residential Award - EECA 2007 *Green Ribbon Award - MfE 2007 *Best Innovation - Sustainable Business Network 2007

References

External links

All3Media International, London
- Distributor website {{DEFAULTSORT:Wasted! (New Zealand) 2007 New Zealand television series debuts 2008 New Zealand television series endings English-language television shows Environment of New Zealand Environmental television New Zealand reality television series Television shows funded by NZ on Air Television series by All3Media Three (TV channel) original programming Television series by South Pacific Pictures