Kwame is appalled at how the small town villagers who have had trash dumped on them by Sly Sludge's operations have started polluting their own town. It demonstrates cowardice, lack of vision, and apathy of the townspeople.

Beakman explains the stats of how much waste is generated daily. He then describes what happens to the waste in the trash dump and why recycling is really good for the environment.

The Planeteers show what can happen to the environment if we continue to produce a lot of trash and waste without thinking about the long term effects of it. They show what happens if people don't follow the Three R's or don't put in a concerted effort to reduce trash.

It is discovered that Sly Sludge has been using the active volcano of an Island inhabited by people as a natural trash incinerator. The volcano begins erupting and trash that the volcano didn't erupted with it, scattering. Captain Planet tries to enter the volcano, but the fumes from the trash made the air inside the volcano too polluted for him to tolerate.

John explains the history and origins to capitalism. He talks about increased productivity in the 1800s and how that ultimately led to capitalism.