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Why Finding Plastic Alternatives Has Turned Into A Trillion Dollar Industry | World Wide Waste - Video học tiếng Anh
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Why Finding Plastic Alternatives Has Turned Into A Trillion Dollar Industry | World Wide Waste
Why Finding Plastic Alternatives Has Turned Into A Trillion Dollar Industry | World Wide Waste
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0:02
Narrator: Imagine a world where plastics
0:04
solve problems rather than create them.
0:07
They're made out of garbage, they're compostable,
0:10
they're endlessly recyclable.
0:13
Scientists and entrepreneurs are in a race
0:15
to solve humanity's addiction to petroleum-based polymers
0:18
that are clogging landfills and the ocean.
0:21
And investors are taking note.
0:24
More than $30 trillion are currently
0:26
held in sustainable investments.
0:28
So whoever gets there first could be solving
0:31
one of humanity's biggest issues.
0:41
There's a startup that claims it can turn
0:43
all kinds of trash into treasure,
0:45
in the form of these plastic-like pellets.
0:48
- Everything from foodstuffs, like chicken bones,
0:51
banana peels, leftovers, salad, your soup,
0:55
the mixed plastic, the cardboard, and the paper.
0:57
Narrator: UBQ Materials has raised $30 million
1:00
from private investors to do just that.
1:04
Humans create at least 3.5 million tons
1:06
of solid waste each day.
1:08
That's roughly the weight of 1.5 million cars.
1:12
At this dump south of Jerusalem,
1:13
UBQ sorts and dries the garbage, shreds it,
1:16
and then grinds it into this confetti-like material.
1:20
That gets melted into a spaghetti
1:22
and then chopped into pellets.
1:24
UBQ sends those off to conventional plastic manufacturers
1:28
who can mix them with regular plastic pellets.
1:31
- It sounds like magic, it looks like magic,
1:34
but it's actually quite sophisticated technology.
1:36
Narrator: UBQ doesn't allow filming
1:38
behind the doors where the patented magic happens.
1:42
We asked the company CEO if he would ever
1:44
share his secret with the world.
1:46
- Do you ask Coca-Cola if they will release
1:48
their formula so everybody can drink Coca-Cola?
1:50
I mean, why do you protect your technology?
1:51
Why does that patent exist? Like, you know?
1:55
Because you're a business, and if you want to create
1:57
a business out of what you're doing,
1:59
you need to protect your know-how.
2:01
Narrator: It's not unusual
2:02
for patented technology to be kept secret,
2:05
but this venture isn't without skeptics.
2:08
Duane Priddy, CEO of the Plastic Expert Group,
2:11
called UBQ's claims "too good to be true,"
2:14
likening it to alchemy in a 2018 Associated Press article.
2:18
When reached by phone in late 2019,
2:20
a spokesperson said Priddy had been instructed
2:22
not to speak with Business Insider,
2:25
but another spokesperson told us he remained skeptical.
2:29
UBQ has won over other prominent scientists, though,
2:32
including Oded Shoseyov,
2:34
a Hebrew University biochemist who serves on the board.
2:37
- So I was skeptical,
2:38
but after thorough studying and experiments
2:42
conducted by a former student of mine
2:45
that actually joined the company at a certain point of time,
2:47
we realized that indeed, there is something unique
2:51
and novel in this technology.
2:54
Narrator: UBQ hopes these recycling bins,
2:56
presented with much fanfare last summer in Virginia,
2:59
are just a first step into the US market.
3:01
- We hope that this is going to be a ubiquitous
3:04
solution to the very, very difficult problem
3:08
of waste management in the world.
3:11
- I'm super excited that they've picked Virginia
3:14
to start their process and start talking,
3:17
and bringing their technology and innovation here.
3:21
Narrator: From 2016 to 2018,
3:23
sustainable, responsible, and impact investing
3:26
grew by more than 38%,
3:28
and the appetite seems to be growing.
3:31
- I think we're seeing rising
3:33
regulatory pressures globally on bans
3:36
around plastics and single-use plastics.
3:38
But I also think we're continuing to see
3:40
those social pressures.
3:42
You're seeing more and more of it on social media.
3:45
It's really opened up this issue to the masses.
3:49
Narrator: An investment director at Schroders,
3:51
which manages hundreds of billions of dollars
3:53
in accounts all over the world,
3:55
Hughes helps her clients choose
3:57
sustainable initiatives to invest in.
3:59
- I think part of your investment due diligence
4:01
is always to see that evidence physically.
4:05
And it's also making sure that, yes,
4:09
looking at their supply chain,
4:11
tracking to all their suppliers.
4:13
Narrator: In addition to investing in this space,
4:15
companies are also feeling the pressure
4:17
to use plastic alternatives in their packaging.
4:20
These pellets being pushed through an extruder
4:22
are made of a polyester material that's made from corn,
4:25
but mainly petroleum-based.
4:27
But they're compostable.
4:29
- When I came on about six years ago
4:33
to now, we've more than quadrupled in size.
4:35
Narrator: EcoSafe is a Vancouver-based company
4:38
that is one of the manufacturers
4:39
of compostable film products intended
4:41
to replace conventional plastics.
4:44
- It's a lot harder to make a bag that's going to get you
4:46
the same performance characteristics of regular plastic,
4:49
but is also going to perform at the compost
4:51
and break down properly and not contaminate soil
4:54
and not contaminate that process.
4:57
Narrator: Even though the market is growing,
4:58
there are still some major challenges.
5:01
It all comes back to the product's end of life.
5:05
For a compostable cup to break down quickly,
5:07
it needs moisture levels and temperatures to be just right,
5:10
as they are in a composting facility.
5:13
- Everything's biodegradable.
5:14
I mean, we're biodegradable, a cup is biodegradable,
5:17
I mean, radioactive waste is biodegradable.
5:20
It just takes 5,000 years to biodegrade.
5:23
Narrator: Frank Franciosi at the US Composting Council
5:26
explains how the market has gone mainstream
5:28
over the last decade.
5:29
- You're seeing more and more stockholders
5:32
going to companies and saying, "You need to be green,
5:35
you need to be more sustainable,"
5:37
and they're looking at their production processes,
5:40
instead of cradle-to-grave, they're looking to develop
5:43
products that are cradle-to-cradle,
5:45
that are part of the circular economy.
5:48
Narrator: In some ways, compostable plastics
5:50
face many of the same challenges
5:52
as conventional recyclable plastics,
5:55
a whole lot of responsibility for the end consumer.
5:58
Many of the plastics we toss into the recycling bin,
6:00
like straws and shopping bags, are not recyclable at all.
6:04
Others never get a second life
6:05
because the chemicals added to make them useful,
6:08
like fillers or solvents, make them impossible to recycle.
6:12
The most recyclable plastic, polyethylene terephthalate,
6:16
usually doesn't get properly sorted.
6:19
And even the 25% of it that does
6:21
only goes through the process once or twice
6:24
before ending up in incinerators,
6:26
landfills, or in the ocean.
6:29
The ultimate goal, then, would be material
6:31
that can be recycled over and over and over again.
6:36
Berkeley scientists stumbled upon what they say
6:38
is a formula for endlessly recyclable plastics.
6:42
- In chemistry labs, you wash your glassware
6:44
with acid washes or base washes.
6:48
And what we noticed when we cleaned up glassware
6:51
contaminated with PDK resins
6:53
is that an acid bath would actually transform
6:56
the polymer back into its original monomer,
6:59
and this was very unexpected to us.
7:01
Narrator: In May 2019, they announced a new family
7:04
of mainly petroleum-based polymers that can be broken down
7:07
into molecular parts and then reassembled
7:10
into different shapes, textures, and colors
7:13
again and again and again,
7:14
without any loss of performance or quality.
7:18
They call it PDK.
7:20
The next challenge is to commercialize it
7:22
and make it scalable.
7:24
PDKs are one-third plant-based,
7:27
but they're hoping to get to 95%.
7:30
They plan to develop PDK plastics
7:32
with a wide range of uses for things
7:33
like textiles, 3D printing, and foams.
7:38
If PDKs were to systematically replace everyday plastics,
7:42
that would mean when you place a plastic cup
7:44
in the recycling bin,
7:45
it would be much more likely to have a new life,
7:48
but you would still have to take that extra step to recycle.
7:52
Meanwhile, every day,
7:54
nearly 1 million plastic beverage bottles
7:56
are sold each minute around the world.
8:00
Scientists estimate that right now,
8:02
there are at least 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris,
8:07
weighing 270,000 tons, floating in the oceans.
8:11
By 2050, there will be so much plastic,
8:14
it will outweigh the fish.
8:16
And for now, the race to find the perfect plastic continues.
