I had a nightmare
I imagined a world where everything was
drowned in petroleum-based plastic the
grounds were littered with it plastics
that were no longer useful were muddy
pungent piles the oceans became a
plastic soup every animal was stuck to a
plastic diet because they could not
distinguish plastic from food and they
painfully starved to death
I saw that there were every human that
had deadly plastics inside their
stomachs the food and water ding they
consumed contained tiny pieces of
plastics and he became sick with cancer
led poisoning and more then I realized
it wasn't a nightmare after all but our
future we already have a lot of plastic
waste and yet we still produce more of
it according to the United Nations we
have created over eight point three
billion metric tons of plastic as 2017
and that number is growing rapidly think
about it
eight point three billion metric tons of
plastic is as heavy as 1 billion
elephants or 80 million blue whales or
822 thousand i four towers currently
around 9% of all plastic is only being
recycled and 12% of all plastic is being
burnt into harmful greenhouse gases like
methane which is around 84 times
more toxic than carbon dioxide the
remaining 79 percent goes to the
landfills were the remainder for
centuries or even forever you may think
this matters it's insignificant it's
just plastic and the waste doesn't
really matter you could just throw away
plastic when it's no longer useful to
you and it's now none of your concern
but if we continue with that mindset in
the world where a planet becomes plastic
will be the consequence of our lack of
action to deal with it we need a
sustainable solution to our plastic
wastes and an alternative to plastics
but I want you to reimagine a plastic
it's still plastic but there's a
difference it's not made of
non-renewable fossil fuels but of
renewable materials like plants seaweed
bacteria or even food waste it is BAU
degradable which means that as in six
centuries or forever to break down that
salts like an alternative to plastics
that we need but what if I told you that
alternative exists well that
alternatives is bio plastics now you may
be wondering what about plastics you may
have heard of them but you also may not
know what they are
besides being by the gradable and made
of renewable materials they can break
down on their own or with something to
help them like dissolving it in water or
exposing it to sunlight they can be
modified for a variety of needs and
applications like adding vinegar to
increase the flexibility of cornstarch
by plastic thus you can find in foil
plastic for every type of plastic with
them there will be no need to use fossil
fuels that
environment to create plastics not only
that but they can also reduce the carbon
dioxide emissions in our atmosphere like
Howard University of Bath researchers
how created a bob classic thus made of
sugar and carbon dioxide therefore while
plastics have the potential to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions caused by cream
plastics by at least 30 percent
this may sound not too big but in the
long run it could create several
significant positive impacts but you do
have to be careful about which type of
bioplastic you choose to use just like
there are many different types of
plastics there are also many different
types of bio plastics some may be more
sustainable than others you can have a
bod agreeable plastic that is made out
petroleum likewise you can have a
bioplastic
that is male sustainable materials but
it is not biodegradable
also the term biodegradable doesn't
specify how long it takes to break down
a bioplastic that's biodegradable could
take years or even decades sometimes
there may be a lack of resources and we
will have to use more land to create
more resources for Bob plastics which
can cause competition in landing
agriculture consumers like you and me
we'll also need a tree by elastics
properly if we were to implement it into
our lives just because it Kabbalah grade
it doesn't mean that it could instantly
disappear when you toss it away on a
sidewalk ball plastics require
industrial composters usually and if the
bob classic doesn't meet their standards
it gets thrown away into the landfill
despite its benefits while plastics
aren't magic materials because we can't
immediately implement them into our
lives we still need more money and
research in order for bioplastics to be
implemented on a bigger scale although
they can be a solution to our
petroleum-based plastics they are not
the solution to our existing plastic
waste the ignorance of consuming plastic
and the over packaging in our consumer
markets but why can't we reuse and
recycle more why can't we buy just bland
plastics
unfortunately plastic pollution is more
complicated in that plastic helps solve
problems that we can't completely solve
yet
like how one-third of all food that's
being produced it's never eaten and it
gets thrown away into the landfill to
reduce methane gases currently the best
way to preserve the food is cease
plastic also some of the alternatives
used for plastic can have a higher
negative impact on environment than
plastic
according to 2018 study conducted by the
Danish government making a single-use
plastic bag is so easy it can have a
lower carbon dioxide emission then a
reasonable cotton bag you will need to
use your cotton bag
7100 times before it will have a lower
environment impact than the plastic bag
so all materials have an impact on
environment but bio plastics can become
a sustainable and reliable material we
just make sure has a low impact on
environment we could use materials that
require less resources and energy to
make such as bacteria and food waste in
South corn we can also make sure that
the bow plastic is compostable which
unlike biodegradable means that the bow
plastic can immediately break down in a
few
days or weeks into organic matter so our
bioplastics a sustainable solution yes
and no bioplastics alone can solve our
plastic problem we need better
infrastructure and policies to deal with
the production consumption and disposal
of plastic waste
we need plastic campaigns to fight
plastic pollution we need bioplastics
to become cheaper more accessible and
sustainable to be implemented into our
lives we need community cleanups to
clean the plastic wastes in our
communities we need to pressure
businesses and politicians to take
action towards reducing the amount of
plastic waste and implementing
bioplastics in our lives we need to
become mindful consumers to minimize the
amount of plastic waste the facts and
solutions are already out there all we
need is action because we need to stop
being bystanders and start becoming
participants to work towards a plastic
free earth so what can you do to help
well first of all you can watch how much
plastic you are throwing away and avoid
as much plastic as possible you can do
this by researching online or reading
books on how to reduce your waste output
and you can get your family and friends
to do the same you could join a
community clean up to clean the plastic
wastes in your community you can also
sign letters and write petitions to work
towards pressuring businesses and
politicians to make them take action
toward classic ways and to voice your
concerns there are so many ways that you
can help and every single action counts
because you can help accelerate change
to become less dependent
classic to replace plastic with bio
plastics and to work towards a current
plastic pollution my final words for you
are that bile toxics are a great
material with a lot of potential but we
still aren't quite ready for bottle
plastics they need to be cheaper more
accessible and sustainable in order for
them to be ready on top of that you can
become an aware consumer on how much
waste you are throwing away and to
minimize how much waste you produce now
I want you to imagine a world where we
use bile plastics so plastics all of the
assisting wastes in our communities
lands and oceans has been cleaned up
everyone is acting locally but thinking
globally about how they can work towards
a sustainable earth that can come true
because we can start taking action today
and eventually we can wake up from our
current nightmare and work towards
environment that we have always been
dreaming of for ourselves and for future
generations thank you
[Applause]
you