Archaeologists like to study the rubbish of ancient societies to analyse their customs, values and standard of living. What does the rubbish of modern Barcelona say about us? This film presents us with an offbeat portrait of the city through its rubbish containers. Anthropologist Rafael Nevado analyses rubbish samples from various boroughs: We need to be very careful with what we throw away, if not, in a thousand years or so they will be able to work out our darkest secrets. This is confirmed by the stories that three of Barcelona's dustmen have to tell. But is everything we throw away really rubbish? Oriol Pont is an artisan and a lot of his raw material comes from the street. Sometimes the street is like a supermarket, he says, adding something you find in the street is rubbish, but the same thing in a shop isn't rubbish. After years of rummaging around in black bags he has come to the following conclusion: Globalisation is having a negative effect on rubbish diversity. We are all beginning to produce the same refuse.
