Review: Garbage dooms the planet in ‘Trashed’

The world is in a heap of trouble -- make that heaps: giant, toxic mountains of garbage that endanger our oceans, marine life, the atmosphere and humanity in general -- without an end in sight. That is, unless citizens, industry and governments get deadly serious about such solutions as mass recycling, composting, plastics reduction and more.

Such is the global crisis that’s vividly, relentlessly detailed in the vital documentary “Trashed,” starring dulcet-voiced zero waste advocate, actor Jeremy Irons.

Guided by writer-director Candida Brady, Irons (genial, studious) travels the globe visiting some of the most egregious, noxious examples of trash disposal and waste mismanagement; vast, open-air garbage dumps in Lebanon and Indonesia that infect its waterways and coastlines are particularly horrendous.

PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments

It’s not a pretty picture, to say the least, with a stop in Vietnam to examine birth defects linked to wartime Agent Orange spraying proving a deeply grim offshoot of the film’s central thrust.

Then there’s the garbage calamity’s most insidious culprit: non-recycled, non-biodegradable plastic. The movie, as have other eco-documentaries, chillingly examines how endless bits of the toxic material routinely flood our oceans, harm its inhabitants and find their way into the fish we eat.

Scientists, doctors and academics weigh in as well, though flipside input from corporate interests and government policymakers would have added welcome dimension to this crucial discussion.

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“Trashed.” No MPAA rating. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes. At Laemmle’s NoHo 7, North Hollywood.