Fact: Only 9 percent of plastic ever made has been recycled.
These entrepreneurs built an app to ensure more recyclables end up where they belong. CIRT - Can I Recycle This?
These entrepreneurs built an app to ensure more recyclables end up where they belong. CIRT - Can I Recycle This?
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00:00The recycling system has a lot of problems.
00:02Say you've got 20 different items,
00:05they probably have 20 different types of packaging.
00:07With CERT, you scan this QR code,
00:10and it gives you the results on what to do
00:12with this packaging wherever you are.
00:24We set out to answer this question,
00:25can I recycle this anywhere, anytime?
00:30If you've ever heard the viral stat,
00:41only 9% of plastic that has ever been made
00:44has been recycled.
00:45That's based on our research.
00:47Another 12% had been incinerated,
00:49and so that means 79% has ended up either in a landfill
00:53or in the open environment.
00:54We started getting questions from all over the world
00:58about recycling.
00:59And that was the genesis behind CERT.
01:14Take, for instance, this container.
01:15So this bottom material is HDPE number two plastic,
01:19but the lid is number five polypropylene plastic.
01:23So these things can't go together in the recycling.
01:26So let's say you order something from e-commerce.
01:28There are three different logos on here,
01:30which makes it really hard to understand
01:33what to do with it at its end of life.
01:51Wicked Weed Brewing is one of our customers.
01:53Our QR code is here on their packaging.
01:56And when a consumer scans this,
01:58they know what to do with the box, the cans,
02:01wherever they are across the U.S.
02:04In Athens, Georgia, where I am.
02:05So the aluminum can needs to be recycled curbside,
02:08and so does the cardboard box.
02:10Similarly, if you did this down the road,
02:11you can scan it and it would pull your location in Atlanta,
02:15or New York, or Seattle, or Denver,
02:17and tell you what to do with it where you are.
02:19So with just one company,
02:21we could offset over 500,000 metric tons of CO2
02:25and save millions of pounds of waste per year.
02:45So with just one company,
02:46we could offset over 500,000 metric tons of CO2
02:49and save millions of pounds of waste per year.
02:52Cities get access to the data
02:54about what their citizens are asking about
02:55in their jurisdictions.
03:12One dumped truck of plastic enters the ocean every minute.
03:16Single-use item consumption.
03:18I am hopeful about the future of the planet.
03:20A lot of our issues are human-centric,
03:23and therefore they require human solutions.
03:26Collecting good data is a good place to start.