Transcriber: Viviane P. Reviewer: Rosa Rey
The problem of single-use plastic
has reached the headlines everywhere in the world in 2018.
We have all seen these campaigns and images from WWF.
We have all experienced open-air landfills of plastic.
Plastic packaging poses environmental issues and health concerns
that need to be addressed.
NGOs part of Break Free From Plastic have identified who to blame.
These corporations pass on the blame.
They claim to have always supported recycling
and that lack of education is the problem.
I think we are all to blame for our single-use plastic addiction.
Brands are offering what consumers want:
more convenience, cheaper prices,
no bother of future consequences.
Pushed by all this sudden attention,
the plastic industry is coming up with its alternative.
First, let's recycle more.
Do you think that your plastic package that you put in the right bin
will be recycled?
I'm so sorry to tell you that, unlike glass, metals, or paper,
just 5% of plastic has a second life,
that is to say, is recycled to make another usable material,
and even a smaller percentage to actually remake a plastic package
in a closed loop.
The reason?
Plastic is not easy to recycle,
and it is not economically viable,
because plastic is very cheap.
The only package that has some potential to become another bottle
is this type of transparent PET.
Today, they claim it can contain 50% recycled material,
and they target 100% by 2025.
Okay?
Great.
But what took so long for this industry to start moving?
And who will pay the extra cost of the bottle?
The plastic industry is also coming up with another great idea:
Let's make plastic bio-sourced and compostable.
They're offering this type of dish and cup.
When you read the small print of this dish,
you find out it's 94% cellulose
and 6% mysterious plastic components.
This cup is made of a plastic called PLA, out of corn starch.
You think, "Great idea.
I can throw away my packaging with the rest of my biowaste."
Watch out.
This is only viable for industrial compost.
It will not decompose in your garden compost or in the landfill.
"Well," you think,
"at least this package, put in the right bin,
will be recycled or composted."
Watch out.
PLA contaminates the plastic recycling system,
and recyclers absolutely do not want to see it among other types of plastic.
Okay, at least this plastic is not made of fossil fuel.
Watch out again.
Many environmental organizations consider this as worse.
If we need agricultural resources for packaging,
this is only going to accelerate deforestation.
So you get the point.
This is not such a good idea at this time, and for containers.
Maybe in the future.
And for bags and films, compostable plastic is a viable option.
Whatever the current limits, all innovations are welcome.
Waste management refers to the three "Rs":
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Because plastic is a powerful industry,
and recycling a booming business opportunity,
a lot of private and public money is put into developing recycling.
The two other "Rs" of waste management,
Reduce and Reuse,
attract far less attention and money.
So let's explore reduce.
There are many great initiatives to talk about.
I just selected three for tonight.
The city of Capannori, in Tuscany, pioneered 20 years ago
a large education program for its citizens to reduce their waste,
with amazing results:
38% less waste in just 10 years
and recycling over 80% of it.
Inspired by this success,
hundreds of cities in the world are following.
Another good example of reduce:
Biocoop, the largest bio food chain in France,
decided in 2016 to stop selling bottled water
because it is, and I quote, "an ecological aberration."
They rightly consider that in France, water from the tap is safe enough
or easy to filter.
Biocoop pushes further and very recently announced
that they will open the first zero-waste supermarket in Paris.
Some activists are even ready to fight.
They launch "plastic attacks,"
leaving all unnecessary packaging in the supermarkets,
raising awareness among shoppers,
and pushing stores and suppliers towards reduce.
Reduce is by definition almost free, so do your own little plastic attacks.
Choose the least packaged products.
Buy big capacities,
non-single-serve units of yogurt, for instance.
Choose the slightly damaged box of pasta that most consumers won't take.
Our obsession with zero defects and single-serve
also has a huge environmental impact.
Now, Reuse,
a real step towards a circular economy.
When I talk about reusable packaging, mainly returnable glass bottles,
everybody remembers using them and how great it was,
from the elders who remember the milkman
to the travelers who have seen countries
that still reuse glass bottles on a big scale.
Also, new initiatives are on their way -
supermarkets with plastic-free aisles:
Loop, the first online supermarket with exclusively returnable packaging.
And yes, it's a start,
only in a few places,
and we have to be careful;
packaging reuse only makes sense in a local circular economy scheme.
But even with imperfections at the beginning,
we need to support these innovations.
Very recently, the city of Berkeley in California -
another nice campus -
voted a ban on all disposable food and beverage containers.
Very clearly, this is the end of the disposable cup,
replaced by a glass and a stainless-steel straw.
Your Big Mac will come on a reusable plate.
And yes, even McDonald's spoke in support of the Berkeley initiative.
During this eight-minute talk,
over eight million bottles of plastic have been used in the world.
85% of them will not be collected and will take 400 years to disappear.
We must put the right balance between the three Rs.
Recycling of plastic has clear limitations.
Reduce and reuse are far more promising solutions.
Governments need to regulate plastic.
The WWF has recently published a series of recommendations,
in particular, that plastic prices must include the real cost
for the society to manage its end of life.
And this true price of plastic is very important
if we want other options to emerge.
As consumers,
we all need to be ready to trade off some convenience and price
for our health and our environment.
Are you ready?
(Cheering)
Thank you.
(Applause)