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00:00Hello, welcome to People & Profit, I'm Kate Moody.
00:17The world produces some 400 million tons of plastic waste every year.
00:22About half of all plastic is designed to be single-use, that is, thrown away after being
00:27used just once.
00:29Hopes for a global treaty to tackle plastic production and waste faded at the start of
00:33December, when UN-backed talks failed to reach an agreement on curbing plastic pollution.
00:39The deal was blocked by a handful of oil-producing countries, which were unwilling to commit
00:43to caps on production.
00:46Most plastic is made from oil or natural gas.
00:49About 100 nations backed an option put forward by Panama, which would have set targets for
00:53reducing plastic output.
00:57Plastics are not convenience, plastics are poison.
01:02Every piece that we are allowed to produce without limits is a direct assault on our
01:08health, on our nature and our children.
01:12For those blocking progress, you are allowing this crisis to fester and it will kill us.
01:19This is just not a treaty about plastics, this is humanity's lie on the sand.
01:27I'm joined in studio now by Rosalie Mann, founder and CEO of the No More Plastic Foundation,
01:32author of a book by the same name, which has not been released in English yet.
01:36Rosalie, thank you for being with us on set.
01:38First of all, what's your reaction to the failure of these UN talks on plastic production?
01:45It's not a real surprise because right now we know that there were 220 lobbyists around
01:56the table too.
01:57So it's really complicated to find a treaty, but it's necessary.
02:02We live in the plastic age more than the digital age right now.
02:06So we have to do this kind of treaty.
02:08We have no more choice about that.
02:10So we need to understand that plastic pollution is not about just a waste management.
02:16It's how we will reduce all this macroplastic and nanoplastic created and generated during
02:24all the cycle of plastic.
02:27A lot of the global efforts to tackle plastic waste are focused on recycling.
02:32You don't agree with that as a solution.
02:35Can you explain why?
02:36Yes, absolutely.
02:37It's because there are so many studies right now who explain that recycling plastic is
02:42more toxic than in a virgin plastic than the original.
02:47It's really simple because plastic contains so many chemicals.
02:53And when we're recycling, we put all these chemicals again and again in circulation.
03:00So plastic is fantastic, is real, but it's toxic.
03:05And we forgot this kind of the sentence.
03:09And we know that breaking down plastic can actually release some of those little nanoparticles
03:13into the air or into the water during that recycling process.
03:15In the water, in the atmosphere and generate more and more storm and everything with the
03:24climate too.
03:25It's a climate issue in the public health issue right now and the environmental issue
03:31too.
03:32So it's huge.
03:33So should we just stop recycling altogether?
03:36What should we do, for example, if we have an empty plastic water bottle?
03:40We have to understand what exactly is the plastic.
03:43It's like when we recommended tobacco, when doctors recommended tobacco in the past, it's
03:50the same thing.
03:51Today, we have to understand what is the plastic.
03:55We have to need plastic in our society, it's true, but not in this kind of amount.
04:02And in the 460 million tons of plastic that we produce per year, we have two industries.
04:09The packaging and the textile represent more than 50 of the problems.
04:15So packaging and textile.
04:17So we cannot change everything around you.
04:20Lots of packaging right now is not necessary.
04:23So we can change it really simply.
04:25And lots of them is completely not necessary.
04:29So in all the 38% of packaging, we have 30% completely unnecessary packaging.
04:38So we have to challenge all the industry to de-plastify our society and think about and
04:45challenge ourselves about how I can put, cut this kind of production that is absolutely
04:53not necessary right now.
04:55So concretely, what kind of options are there to replace plastic?
04:59What kind of materials?
05:00We have so many materials already exist.
05:03But the real question is why we put all the investment in the recycling of plastic and
05:09not in the glass industry, for example, because we can produce glass with agui, with really
05:17light and breakable, etc.
05:21So we can, we can, we have to, to have a more vision for the future about with not just
05:31one alternative, but different alternatives in the good sides.
05:36And for different industries requiring different solutions, I would imagine.
05:39Yes.
05:40Now, plastic waste is obviously an environmental problem.
05:43It contributes to higher emissions, threatens biodiversity in the oceans.
05:47But you were really inspired to get involved in this cause because of the health implications.
05:52Yes, I, yeah, it's personal implication because my son was very sick.
06:00And I spent lots of time in hospital and one night a doctor said me this sentence.
06:06It's normal.
06:07It's pollution.
06:08And for me, this sentence was like an electroshock.
06:11How we could continue to live in a society where pollution is tolerated.
06:18For me, it's not possible.
06:19So I wanted to understand what, what means what hide with the pollution, because pollution
06:28is so large.
06:31And I've been connected with some scientists and I discovered that we breathe microplastic
06:38and nanoplastic, that all our children were born pre-polluted right now.
06:44We found macroplastic and nanoplastic in all placenta, in all foetus.
06:49We have in our blood, in our brain, in our heart, lungs, etc.
07:00So it's a health issue right now.
07:02And we have to be, raise awareness people about this so important issue because we cannot
07:10continue like that.
07:12We produce so many plastic and because we produce too many amount of plastic, we are
07:20exposed about this pollution.
07:23As you say, microplastics are present everywhere now in the air that we breathe, in the food
07:28that we eat, the clothes that we wear as well.
07:32Is it too late to undo that damage?
07:34No, no, no.
07:35It's absolutely not too late because thinking is too late.
07:39It will be like giving up and it's not possible to giving up about that.
07:44If we continue to produce more and more and more, we cannot solve the problem.
07:49So we have to address it with really hope there are so many alternatives and solutions
07:55already exist.
07:56We have glass, but not only glass.
07:58We have wood.
07:59We have mycelium.
08:01We have in the U.S. and Australia and Korea, they have a seaweed revolution.
08:11So it's completely we could replace so many things with this alternative in packaging
08:20and textile because these two industries represent more than 50 percent of all the problem and
08:27the production.
08:28We've seen this failure now to tackle the issues on a global scale.
08:32What kind of concrete steps can businesses or industries start taking?
08:36De-plastify the society.
08:38It's really urgent and they don't need to wait legislation or a binding treaty.
08:45It's not necessary to wait for that because plastic is a poison.
08:50So we cannot continue to introduce this kind of material in so many kind of items that
08:58we are in contact directly with us.
09:00So it's really important to understand that and to de-plastify all the society that we
09:06will have.
09:07It's unnecessary.
09:09We have to act right now.
09:10Rosalie Mann from No More Plastic, thank you so much for joining us on People & Profit.
09:15Thank you so much.
09:16Well, where businesses and governments fail, individuals are often keen to make a difference.
09:22Across Southeast Asia, creativity and innovation are the name of the game in tackling plastic
09:26waste, as Aurore Chloé Dupree explains.
09:31Naomi Arimoto isn't here to sunbathe.
09:35She's here on a mission collecting plastic waste that ended up on the shores of her local
09:40beach.
09:42This is a piece of artificial lawn.
09:44It's often used in gardens in Japan.
09:47There's loads of them lying around.
09:50Naomi uses omegami, or sea trash, to make fake nails.
09:55She opened her beauty salon south of Tokyo six years ago and came up with the idea of
10:00recycling plastic waste after taking part in community clean-ups.
10:06I hope that putting these on their fingertips will enable clients to not only enjoy fashion,
10:11but also to become more aware of environmental issues.
10:17Hundreds of trillions of pieces of plastic are thought to pollute the world's oceans,
10:22While the US and China are the largest plastic producers, the Philippines makes the most
10:27plastic waste, with more than 350,000 tonnes each year.
10:32Luckily, many small initiatives are mushrooming in the region.
10:37In the Shandong province, eastern China, waste is turned into artwork.
10:42Fu Yunsheng urges the world to take action.
10:46Plastic breaks into tiny pieces that get eaten by marine life and eventually by us too.
10:52Across the Yellow Sea in South Korea, high-tech machines are using AI to sort plastic waste,
10:58turning it into granules in less than half an hour.
11:02These can then be used to make car parts or stylish items.
11:07That's all for now.
11:08Don't forget to look for People & Profit on the podcast platform of your choice, or
11:12as always on the Fronts24 website.
11:14Until next time, thanks for watching.