TEDx - Plastics Rehab-WWW.DOWNVIDS.NET
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Hi, I may have to preach at you.
To preach for a plastics rehab.
Now you might be expecting
me to say that we as a society
we need to kick the habit of plastics.
Uh-uh. I am up to something
a little more devious tonight.
I am here to make you doubt.
I am here to tell the side of the story
that does not get
social media coverage.
And why do I have to do this?
Because we hate plastics.
We despise plastics. Plastics
can't possibly be sustainable.
They're even made from oil.
Booooo plastics.
Plastic waste
is overwhelming us today.
Just last month
a dead whale beached up
with 40 kg of plastic in the stomach.
We read reports
that if we do nothing by 2050
there will be more plastics
than fish in the ocean.
And plastic waste in the environment
is now so abundant,
It has been suggested as a marker
for the current geological era.
That's bad, but are we being
entirely fair to plastics?
Are they really the ones
who are destroying the planet?
Let's have a look.
Generally, we are mad at plastics for
not degrading into the environment.
So what?
Why do you expect them to?
Metals don't degrade into the
environment. We don't blame them.
Plastics are a resource,
just like the metals.
And we should not be thinking
in terms of throwing resources
into the world,
expecting them to just disappear.
No. Recover them,
recycle them,
keep them in the materials loop
and out of the environment
in the first place, and get
this degradation nonsense
out of your head.
When we think about
shaming plastics,
we tend to wander
towards food packaging.
We think that most of them
are unnecessary.
Are they? Really?
Example.
Less than two grams of plastic
will package a cucumber.
This will extend the shelf life,
this is the time
it will stay good in your fridge,
by 11 days.
The shelf life of a steak
is extended by 26 days.
So a little bit of plastic will prevent
a whole lot of food waste.
On average, the co2 emissions
required to make
this plastic packaging
is less than 10%
of the co2 we have emitted already
to make the food in the first place.
Moreover this plastics packaging
will prevent co2 emissions
by preventing the food waste,
and these prevented co2 emissions
are 5 times as high
as what we needed to produce it.
So plastic is fantastic
if you think about it.
Yet still we, all of us, most of us here
are still convinced
that the alternatives to plastic
are always better.
Why is that? You want to do
the right thing for the environment.
So you make decisions based
on what you know to be right
without any scientific evidence
but because it is known.
This is what we call
environmental folklore.
It is the stories we take for granted
without checking the facts.
And it is possible
to check those facts.
Scientists can make an objective
comparison between products
by taking into account not only
the amount of materials
something will use, but also
how much land, water and energy
you will consume along the way
just to make the product.
All of this translates into a footprint,
and in terms of footprint,
we'd have to focus on co2
emissions, but there's more.
There are also effects on human health, on ozone layer,
and quality of land and water.
What we, what you need
to realize in all of this
is that plastics are strong,
lightweight materials.
They have half the density of glass,
about the same density as paper.
But because they are so strong,
we can make plastics packaging
really thin, compared to the others.
So almost always,
the plastic packaging will consume
a lot less resources and be a
lot more efficient in transportation.
Are you ready for some numbers?
Bottles. Let's go there.
We use about 24 times
as much glass as we would plastic
to package the same
amount of liquids.
And because glass is heavier,
we will spend
almost twice as much on transport.
I can hear all of you thinking
at me aggressively right now.
We can reuse those glass bottles.
Right? Yes, you can.
But not indefinitely. You can reuse
a glass bottle 8 times
before it needs to be
remelted into a new bottle.
But okay, even if you do that,
you will be using
for your intermediate cleaning
a lot of water
and quite some aggressive
chemicals. But still fair is fair,
we can reuse the bottles 8 times so
these 24 blocks can be reduced to 3.
If we're being entirely fair however,
plastic bottles do get recycled,
at least here in Europe.
And let's be really pessimistic
about that.
Let's assume that only
50% of bottles get recycled.
And still we can also halve
the amount of plastics used.
So even if we take the reuse
of the glass into account,
we still use 6 times
as much glass as we would plastics,
that is an enormous amount of
material which you need to source
and then convert into bottles.
All the while using energy
and water and emitting co2.
Did you know that glass melts
at 1500 degrees centigrade
While the plastic used for bottles
melts at 300?
The amount of energy required for
glass bottle production is staggering.
And if you take
all of it together
then glass really isn't the green
champion we would like it to be.
In fact plastic bottles, supported by
a good recycling scheme
and consumers, you and me,
who effectively recycle,
is much better for the environment
as a whole.
BAM. Myth busted.
What's next?
Bags I would think.
Plastic grocery bags.
Whole cities and countries are now
starting to ban plastic bags outright.
We should not be cheering this on.
This is why.
Let's make a comparison.
We take the absolute worst case
for plastics,
one of those thin plastic bags
made entirely out of new materials
which you will throw away
after a single use.
You don't have to,
but let's assume that you do.
Let's compare this to the
very best possible scenario for paper:
a paper bag made entirely
out of recycled paper
which will go back
to recycling afterwards.
The plastic bag weighs 20 grams,
the paper bag 50.
Paper requires a lot more energy
to produce and to recycle.
Also it uses up water,
land, and trees.
If we calculated
all through, the footprint
of that thin throw-away
plastic bag is so small
that you would have to reuse
the paper bag 4 times
for it to be as environment friendly
as a plastic bag.
4 times.
Now let's be honest.
Which one of you uses
the same paper bag 4 times?
No one.
But you will defensively say
then surely my sturdy
cotton shopper is saving the world.
The production of cotton
agriculturally is so intensive
in the usage of land and water
that you would have to reuse
this cotton shopper over 170 times
for it to break even environmentally.
If you go to the store every week,
use the same bag every week.
That would amount up to over
3 years of consecutive shopping
just to beat
the thin throw away plastic bag.
In fact the very best alternative is
the reusable plastic bag
which you can buy
at the cash register.
The heavier sturdy ones,
they will break
even environmentally
after 20 times of reuse,
that is less than half a year
of consecutive shopping.
After this first half year,
everything that follows
is pure environmental gain.
Take that, plastic haters.
Of course it's not all rainbows
and unicorns for plastics.
Let's circle back to plastic waste
in the beaches and our oceans.
It's bad. It really is.
But can we blame plastics,
the material, for that?
If you are stuck in a huge traffic jam
because someone parked
their car in the middle of the street
and everything is blocked.
Do you blame the car?
Or do you blame
the idiot that put it there?
Research shows that
over 80% of littering is intentional
and performed by individuals,
that's you and me, baby.
Us, the consumer.
Not big bad industry,
not plastics the material.
We are the idiots.
So what should we do then?
It clearly doesn't work
if we say but just stop
throwing it away.
The litter is there,
the idiots are abundant.
Should we now ban all plastics
to protect us from our idiot selves?
Well, so more scientists
did the math on that.
If we were to ban
all plastic packaging
and replace them
with the alternatives
paper, glass, aluminum,
the amount of materials required
the amount of energy required
and the resulting co2 emissions
would explode.
And we as a society are trying
to reduce our emissions,
not increase them.
So banning all plastics
is definitely not the way to go.
Then what is?
Are you confused yet?
Are you depressed yet?
Don't be.
Be critical instead. Do not go
blindly to war on plastics
just because they are
the most visibly littered material.
Realize that plastics are
functional and precious resources
which we need to keep
in the materials loop.
And also realize that you have
power, maybe even superpowers.
You are the consumer, you can
drive the market to sustainability
if you do it together.
Final example.
Did you know that
dark-colored bottles,
like the ones they use
for some washing detergents,
are very bad for recycling?
It's because
in automated bottle sorting
dark colors do not get recognized,
so it goes to trash.
Producers know this and still
they put the bottles on the market.
Why? Because it's pretty.
And marketing says
that you and I will buy it
rather than a white bottle.
If you do not buy products and
hard-to-recycle plastic packaging
they will not make them.
If you do not buy
individually wrapped cookies
they will not sell them.
If you demand
to be able to take back
your plastic bags and foils
to the store for recycling
they might just listen.
So please, have a plastics rehab.
But let it be in your perceptions, as
well as in your well intended actions.
They're the thing beyond
this environmental folklore
that plastics must always be bad.
Check your facts.
Be a hero, not a hater.
Thank you.