00:00:01.550 --> 00:00:02.520
- [Narrator] Have you ever wondered

00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.613
why you can put this in your
recycling bin, but not this?

00:00:06.840 --> 00:00:09.120
Why can this be made into new products,

00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:10.770
but this will go into a landfill?

00:00:11.700 --> 00:00:12.873
And what about these?

00:00:14.370 --> 00:00:16.080
Why is it that you can recycle this

00:00:16.080 --> 00:00:17.913
if you live in one of these places,

00:00:18.840 --> 00:00:20.640
but not if you live in one of these?

00:00:23.430 --> 00:00:24.650
One reason is that there are nearly

00:00:24.650 --> 00:00:28.620
10,000 separate recycling
systems in the United States.

00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:30.840
Each makes their own rules.

00:00:30.840 --> 00:00:33.120
And while a majority of
Americans support the idea

00:00:33.120 --> 00:00:35.610
of a uniform standard for recycling,

00:00:35.610 --> 00:00:37.203
no such standards exist.

00:00:38.220 --> 00:00:41.940
As a result, curbside
recycling is a bit of a mess.

00:00:41.940 --> 00:00:45.330
In a 2019 survey by the
Consumer Brands Association,

00:00:45.330 --> 00:00:47.790
Americans ranked recycling
as more confusing

00:00:47.790 --> 00:00:51.810
than assembling IKEA furniture
or doing their taxes.

00:00:51.810 --> 00:00:53.670
And recovery rates show it.

00:00:53.670 --> 00:00:56.730
With nearly 62% of
American household waste

00:00:56.730 --> 00:00:59.193
being sent to landfills or incinerators.

00:01:00.150 --> 00:01:01.560
So how did we get here?

00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:04.110
And more importantly, how
do we turn things around?

00:01:07.126 --> 00:01:09.876
(rhythmic music)

00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:20.820
Confusion around recycling
isn't entirely an accident

00:01:20.820 --> 00:01:22.380
and its most fundamental element

00:01:22.380 --> 00:01:24.900
may have been looming
in plain sight all along

00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:26.283
in the form of this symbol.

00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:31.680
The chasing arrows graphic
was the winning entry

00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:33.090
of a design competition

00:01:33.090 --> 00:01:35.433
for the very first Earth Day in 1970.

00:01:38.160 --> 00:01:40.830
The concept was to
represent paper recycling.

00:01:40.830 --> 00:01:42.900
And because of the nature
of the competition,

00:01:42.900 --> 00:01:45.060
the design remained in the public domain,

00:01:45.060 --> 00:01:46.983
unable to be trademarked or regulated.

00:01:48.240 --> 00:01:51.390
By the late 1980s, the symbol
was universally associated

00:01:51.390 --> 00:01:53.490
with recycling of all types,

00:01:53.490 --> 00:01:55.530
and the Plastics Industry Association

00:01:55.530 --> 00:01:57.120
issued a new set of symbols

00:01:57.120 --> 00:01:59.640
with a suspiciously similar design.

00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:01.230
The resin identification codes

00:02:01.230 --> 00:02:03.960
combine the chasing arrows
design with a number,

00:02:03.960 --> 00:02:06.870
indicating one of seven
common types of plastic.

00:02:06.870 --> 00:02:09.360
And while widely considered
to be a recycling code,

00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.333
the symbol itself makes no
guarantee of recyclability.

00:02:13.320 --> 00:02:15.270
Today there are nearly
a hundred variations

00:02:15.270 --> 00:02:16.710
of the symbol in use,

00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:20.190
along with dozens of other
vaguely environmental messages,

00:02:20.190 --> 00:02:22.380
like the fact that the
manufacturer contributes money

00:02:22.380 --> 00:02:25.743
to recycling programs, or
simply discourages littering.

00:02:28.440 --> 00:02:29.940
- Consumer brands know

00:02:29.940 --> 00:02:31.890
people want do right by the environment.

00:02:31.890 --> 00:02:33.990
And so they're now putting lots more

00:02:33.990 --> 00:02:35.490
messaging on their products

00:02:35.490 --> 00:02:37.830
to make the product
feel more eco-friendly.

00:02:37.830 --> 00:02:40.500
There is very little standardization

00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:43.080
associated with claims that are made.

00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:44.700
There were some things
like the recycling symbol

00:02:44.700 --> 00:02:47.033
that people were using
that there were no rules.

00:02:48.630 --> 00:02:50.490
- [Narrator] California
State Senator Ben Allen

00:02:50.490 --> 00:02:52.320
authored the Truth in Labeling Bill

00:02:52.320 --> 00:02:53.910
prohibiting manufacturers from using

00:02:53.910 --> 00:02:55.140
the chasing arrow symbol

00:02:55.140 --> 00:02:58.110
on products that can't
factually be recycled.

00:02:58.110 --> 00:02:59.250
And for California,

00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:02.160
that doesn't mean in just a
few specialized facilities,

00:03:02.160 --> 00:03:04.923
it means in curbside pickup
bins anywhere in the state.

00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.050
- And we know what's going on, right?

00:03:07.050 --> 00:03:09.900
They're trying to associate their product

00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:14.310
with the feel-good aspect
of environmentalism,

00:03:14.310 --> 00:03:15.510
and yet they're actually acting

00:03:15.510 --> 00:03:17.370
in a grotesquely irresponsible way

00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:19.320
by putting that recycling
symbol on their item.

00:03:19.320 --> 00:03:20.940
What it does is it encourages people

00:03:20.940 --> 00:03:22.470
to feel good about the product

00:03:22.470 --> 00:03:24.420
and then put that item
in the recycling bin.

00:03:24.420 --> 00:03:26.370
And if anything, by having
'em in the recycling bin,

00:03:26.370 --> 00:03:28.050
they're actually contaminating the system.

00:03:28.050 --> 00:03:30.600
You're throwing a lot of
extraneous material in there

00:03:30.600 --> 00:03:32.700
that makes it harder
for the system to work.

00:03:32.700 --> 00:03:33.930
It means that you have to have

00:03:33.930 --> 00:03:36.690
a whole infrastructure in
place to sort out those items

00:03:36.690 --> 00:03:39.120
that are truly recyclable
from those that are not.

00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:41.310
So anything we can do to ensure

00:03:41.310 --> 00:03:43.500
that we have a cleaner stream of materials

00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:45.630
going through the recycling system,

00:03:45.630 --> 00:03:47.190
it actually gives our recycling system

00:03:47.190 --> 00:03:49.080
a fighting chance of doing its job.

00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:51.360
It's a basic question
of truth in advertising.

00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:52.770
And so our bill said

00:03:52.770 --> 00:03:54.480
we're not gonna let you
use the recycling symbol

00:03:54.480 --> 00:03:56.080
if your items aren't recyclable.

00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:00.030
But we haven't fixed the problem.

00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:02.160
This is a good bill,
I'm proud of this bill,

00:04:02.160 --> 00:04:04.050
but all it does is ensure

00:04:04.050 --> 00:04:06.333
that people aren't
being actively deceived.

00:04:07.920 --> 00:04:11.040
There's a much bigger problem
here than we need to address.

00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:14.310
- America is in the middle
of a recycling crisis.

00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:16.950
- The price of new virgin
plastic is actually cheaper

00:04:16.950 --> 00:04:19.080
than buying recycled plastic right now.

00:04:19.080 --> 00:04:21.060
- Processing costs have gone up

00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:22.830
and the price you can
sell the commodities for

00:04:22.830 --> 00:04:24.270
on the backend has gone down.

00:04:24.270 --> 00:04:27.690
- [Reporter] Most recycling
programs across America

00:04:27.690 --> 00:04:29.733
are upside down economically.

00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:34.750
- [Narrator] Recycling
changed forever In 2018.

00:04:35.610 --> 00:04:38.070
Prior to this, the vast
majority of American waste

00:04:38.070 --> 00:04:40.143
was exported to China for recycling.

00:04:41.070 --> 00:04:44.163
But the reality of the situation
was far more complicated.

00:04:47.370 --> 00:04:48.630
- [Senator Allen] We
were all living a lie.

00:04:48.630 --> 00:04:51.390
We were basically just
exporting our problem.

00:04:51.390 --> 00:04:53.910
It was cheap to do because
ships would come from China

00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:57.000
filled with plastic
products and cheap goods,

00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:58.920
and then these ships would
have to go back to China

00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:02.250
and they'd have all these
empty shipping containers.

00:05:02.250 --> 00:05:03.600
What are you gonna fill 'em with?

00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:05.430
So a lot of this trash ended up

00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:07.770
in these shipping containers
sent back to China.

00:05:07.770 --> 00:05:11.130
Bales would show up of
supposedly recyclable material.

00:05:11.130 --> 00:05:13.020
The little ships would take 'em up rivers

00:05:13.020 --> 00:05:14.610
and villagers would come out

00:05:14.610 --> 00:05:17.340
and they'd get a bale and
they'd sort them themselves,

00:05:17.340 --> 00:05:19.830
and they'd basically sort
out whatever they could sell,

00:05:19.830 --> 00:05:20.790
and the rest of the material

00:05:20.790 --> 00:05:23.400
was getting thrown into the
river, it was getting burned,

00:05:23.400 --> 00:05:25.710
it was creating a lot
of ecological problems.

00:05:25.710 --> 00:05:27.900
So the Chinese said enough is enough.

00:05:27.900 --> 00:05:29.460
This stuff is too contaminated.

00:05:29.460 --> 00:05:31.500
We are bringing down the National Sword,

00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:33.510
that was the name of this policy,

00:05:33.510 --> 00:05:37.440
and stopping the import
of all of this trash.

00:05:37.440 --> 00:05:40.233
And that created a major
crisis on our side.

00:05:41.100 --> 00:05:44.730
- Markets changed immediately
overnight here in the US.

00:05:44.730 --> 00:05:48.420
This is not just a valve that
you can turn on and turn off.

00:05:48.420 --> 00:05:50.640
Prices plummeted to record lows

00:05:50.640 --> 00:05:53.400
and it ultimately trickled
down to communities

00:05:53.400 --> 00:05:56.820
that began to either contract
what they were collecting

00:05:56.820 --> 00:06:00.153
or stopped collecting
recyclables altogether.

00:06:03.210 --> 00:06:04.920
- [Narrator] Kim Holmes
is one of the many experts

00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:07.020
who helped US companies
navigate the collapse

00:06:07.020 --> 00:06:09.210
of the domestic recycling market.

00:06:09.210 --> 00:06:11.010
But her work is far from over

00:06:11.010 --> 00:06:13.800
as the repercussions of
China's National Sword policy

00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:16.110
are still being felt around the world.

00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:20.670
- It shined a light on our
domestic recycling infrastructure

00:06:20.670 --> 00:06:22.980
that frankly it wasn't adequate

00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:26.280
and there became this larger question

00:06:26.280 --> 00:06:28.053
of whether it was worth it.

00:06:28.890 --> 00:06:31.380
It really kind of shook
the faith and foundation

00:06:31.380 --> 00:06:32.370
in recycling.

00:06:32.370 --> 00:06:35.010
It felt like recycling was failing

00:06:35.010 --> 00:06:37.893
but we couldn't let that happen.

00:06:41.220 --> 00:06:44.190
- [Narrator] And thus began
the race to rescue recycling.

00:06:44.190 --> 00:06:46.140
If the system was to survive it all,

00:06:46.140 --> 00:06:49.650
the linear economy model
of take, make and waste

00:06:49.650 --> 00:06:52.713
would have to be re-envisioned
in a fully circular way.

00:06:54.030 --> 00:06:56.700
- What is the goal of
the circular economy?

00:06:56.700 --> 00:07:00.510
It is truly to find the pathways

00:07:00.510 --> 00:07:04.800
to keep all of the resources
that we have at our disposal,

00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:08.580
that we have in play,
and keep them in play.

00:07:08.580 --> 00:07:10.920
Could we build everything that we need

00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:14.040
from the things that we already have today

00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:16.410
by matching the right innovation

00:07:16.410 --> 00:07:19.200
with the right materials that we have?

00:07:19.200 --> 00:07:23.853
So that means we are no
longer extracting and wasting.

00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:30.080
What if we had enough
technologies at our disposal

00:07:30.356 --> 00:07:32.490
that we could find value

00:07:32.490 --> 00:07:35.580
in all of the plastic
items that we use today

00:07:35.580 --> 00:07:38.820
and there was a future where

00:07:38.820 --> 00:07:41.580
all the plastics we use
goes into our recycling bin

00:07:41.580 --> 00:07:44.880
and we have the technologies
and the opportunities

00:07:44.880 --> 00:07:46.860
to recover the value from that

00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:49.680
rather than sending
those valuable resources

00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.673
to the landfill.

00:07:53.310 --> 00:07:55.530
- [Narrator] Yet the main
barrier to achieving this goal

00:07:55.530 --> 00:07:59.490
is the same as it was
in 2018, contamination.

00:07:59.490 --> 00:08:01.800
But not just the obvious
types of contamination

00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:04.530
like hazardous waste or rotting food,

00:08:04.530 --> 00:08:06.120
it's contamination as a result

00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:08.340
of having more material
types on the market

00:08:08.340 --> 00:08:10.860
than can feasibly be kept separated.

00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:11.910
Over the last decade,

00:08:11.910 --> 00:08:15.180
manufacturers have increasingly
adopted composite packaging

00:08:15.180 --> 00:08:17.700
made of multiple layers
of different material.

00:08:17.700 --> 00:08:21.150
Paper coated with plastic,
plastic lined with aluminum,

00:08:21.150 --> 00:08:22.980
countless combinations,

00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:25.860
each difficult or impossible to separate.

00:08:25.860 --> 00:08:27.840
As composite packaging multiplied,

00:08:27.840 --> 00:08:29.790
the task of sorting each product type

00:08:29.790 --> 00:08:31.740
was no longer humanly possible.

00:08:31.740 --> 00:08:34.440
So engineers began working
on a different problem,

00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:36.663
how to take humans out of the equation.

00:08:38.163 --> 00:08:40.996
(whimsical music)

00:08:48.217 --> 00:08:51.884
(whimsical music continues)

00:08:53.040 --> 00:08:55.800
- So the way a typical
recycling facility is built,

00:08:55.800 --> 00:08:57.690
they use what are effectively large pieces

00:08:57.690 --> 00:09:00.000
of mining equipment to try to separate out

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:01.050
different commodities,

00:09:01.050 --> 00:09:03.120
but unfortunately they're
not very accurate.

00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:04.920
Plastic bottles are in with the paper,

00:09:04.920 --> 00:09:07.470
aluminum cans are in
with the plastic bottles.

00:09:07.470 --> 00:09:09.150
So what the recycling
facilities have to do

00:09:09.150 --> 00:09:11.520
is they surround this
equipment with people

00:09:11.520 --> 00:09:13.230
to basically correct the mistakes

00:09:13.230 --> 00:09:14.790
that those pieces of machinery make.

00:09:14.790 --> 00:09:17.040
You might see 20, sometimes even 30 people

00:09:17.040 --> 00:09:19.440
working per shift, sorting stuff by hand.

00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:21.750
People put all sorts of
nasty stuff in the recycling.

00:09:21.750 --> 00:09:23.850
Rotting food is an obvious one,

00:09:23.850 --> 00:09:26.565
but also hypodermic
needles, knives, diapers,

00:09:26.565 --> 00:09:27.900
this sort of thing.

00:09:27.900 --> 00:09:31.860
The result is it's a pretty
tough job and has high turnover,

00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:33.863
and that's where our
robots come in to help.

00:09:35.310 --> 00:09:36.780
- [Narrator] Matanya
Horowitz is the founder

00:09:36.780 --> 00:09:39.420
of Denver, Colorado's AMP Robotics.

00:09:39.420 --> 00:09:42.780
His vision is for AI to shift
the economics of recycling

00:09:42.780 --> 00:09:43.923
on a global scale.

00:09:45.390 --> 00:09:46.980
- [Matanya] We aren't the
first to see the potential

00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:49.380
for robotics in the recycling industry.

00:09:49.380 --> 00:09:52.290
In fact, the robots we use
have been around for a while.

00:09:52.290 --> 00:09:56.100
Really the missing ingredient
has been a vision system

00:09:56.100 --> 00:09:58.740
that can identify this material
and say that's a bottle,

00:09:58.740 --> 00:09:59.670
that's a can.

00:09:59.670 --> 00:10:02.490
We have created a vision
system that can do that

00:10:02.490 --> 00:10:04.860
built on artificial intelligence.

00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:07.710
It can learn to identify
pretty much anything you or me

00:10:07.710 --> 00:10:08.543
can be taught to identify,

00:10:08.543 --> 00:10:10.800
which is something as
specific as a Starbucks cup

00:10:10.800 --> 00:10:12.630
or a Captain Crunch cereal.

00:10:12.630 --> 00:10:15.480
The system can actually learn
to identify those things.

00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.030
What it allows us to
do is sort the material

00:10:18.030 --> 00:10:19.860
the recycling industry sorts today,

00:10:19.860 --> 00:10:21.930
but we can go a lot further.

00:10:21.930 --> 00:10:23.220
If we can identify something

00:10:23.220 --> 00:10:25.920
as say a cottage cheese container,
we can start to do things

00:10:25.920 --> 00:10:28.290
like separate out nothing but
the cottage cheese containers

00:10:28.290 --> 00:10:29.760
or nothing but the coffee pots.

00:10:29.760 --> 00:10:32.040
The reason that's interesting
is that this packaging

00:10:32.040 --> 00:10:34.470
tends to have a more consistent chemistry

00:10:34.470 --> 00:10:36.180
if it has a common use.

00:10:36.180 --> 00:10:38.670
And if you can deliver materials
with a common chemistry,

00:10:38.670 --> 00:10:41.430
it ends up having
significantly more value.

00:10:41.430 --> 00:10:42.540
And the more value there is,

00:10:42.540 --> 00:10:44.430
the more people will want
to go after that material

00:10:44.430 --> 00:10:45.780
and not let it get into the oceans

00:10:45.780 --> 00:10:47.280
and not let it get into a landfill.

00:10:47.280 --> 00:10:50.460
And it ends up AI opens that up

00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:53.460
because it can identify things
at this very precise level,

00:10:53.460 --> 00:10:55.140
which is much the same way as you or me

00:10:55.140 --> 00:10:56.990
would learn to identify these things.

00:11:00.560 --> 00:11:02.700
When new packaging gets introduced,

00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:04.500
it gets incorporated into the data set

00:11:04.500 --> 00:11:07.140
and we push an update
out to the whole fleet

00:11:07.140 --> 00:11:08.610
and they all learn from that.

00:11:08.610 --> 00:11:11.340
So the result is that our
robots here in the states,

00:11:11.340 --> 00:11:14.100
they're learning from
the packaging in Japan,

00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:16.140
and those are learning from
the packaging in Europe.

00:11:16.140 --> 00:11:18.780
It's gonna be this huge task
but over the next couple years,

00:11:18.780 --> 00:11:20.610
we're gonna continue to basically learn

00:11:20.610 --> 00:11:22.910
every form of packaging
there is in the world.

00:11:26.141 --> 00:11:28.891
(trash rustling)

00:11:31.708 --> 00:11:35.610
What we're all about is improving
the fundamental economics

00:11:35.610 --> 00:11:36.990
of the recycling process.

00:11:36.990 --> 00:11:38.700
There's a tremendous amount of value,

00:11:38.700 --> 00:11:41.160
hundreds of billions of
dollars worth of material

00:11:41.160 --> 00:11:43.110
that's being thrown away each year

00:11:43.110 --> 00:11:45.570
because it costs over hundreds
of billions of dollars

00:11:45.570 --> 00:11:46.500
to extract it all.

00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:47.970
If we can reduce that cost,

00:11:47.970 --> 00:11:49.770
people are naturally gonna go after it.

00:11:49.770 --> 00:11:52.650
If we can do that and make it
in particular more lucrative

00:11:52.650 --> 00:11:55.020
than landfilling it or incinerating it,

00:11:55.020 --> 00:11:56.430
there is a natural economic incentive

00:11:56.430 --> 00:11:57.840
for people to build businesses

00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:00.480
around extracting all
of this material value.

00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:02.430
And that's ultimately what
we want to be able to do

00:12:02.430 --> 00:12:06.480
is help the world divert 80%,
85% of the material stream.

00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.480
You know, you contrast that
with the reality today,

00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:12.630
under 10% of the plastics
the world produces

00:12:12.630 --> 00:12:14.100
are actually recycled each year.

00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:16.385
If you can bring that number up to 80%

00:12:16.385 --> 00:12:18.450
and in particular when you look at

00:12:18.450 --> 00:12:20.520
what the carbon implications of that are,

00:12:20.520 --> 00:12:21.630
it's actually massive.

00:12:21.630 --> 00:12:23.550
You know, you're talking about
the same order of magnitude

00:12:23.550 --> 00:12:26.610
as something like the
electrification of transportation

00:12:26.610 --> 00:12:28.710
as the impact of
diverting that much stuff.

00:12:28.710 --> 00:12:31.200
And we really think that's possible

00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.363
if you set up the incentives right.

00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:38.040
- [Narrator] But even if all
waste sorting was automated,

00:12:38.040 --> 00:12:40.050
how close would we come
to closing the loop

00:12:40.050 --> 00:12:42.150
and achieving true circularity?

00:12:42.150 --> 00:12:45.390
According to experts, not close enough.

00:12:45.390 --> 00:12:47.760
The reason is that conventional
mechanical recycling

00:12:47.760 --> 00:12:51.150
still lacks the ability to
handle many types of plastics.

00:12:51.150 --> 00:12:52.440
And the types it can handle

00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:54.780
degrade in each successive generation

00:12:54.780 --> 00:12:56.733
until the only option is the landfill.

00:12:57.990 --> 00:12:59.250
To delay the inevitable,

00:12:59.250 --> 00:13:01.860
manufacturers simply
blend recycled plastic

00:13:01.860 --> 00:13:04.350
with a steady stream
of new virgin plastic,

00:13:04.350 --> 00:13:07.200
produced from freshly
extracted oil and gas.

00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:09.420
To break free from fossil fuels for good,

00:13:09.420 --> 00:13:11.730
recycling itself needs an upgrade.

00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:14.520
And that's exactly what's
taking place a few miles away

00:13:14.520 --> 00:13:17.343
at Boulder, Colorado's
National Renewable Energy Lab.

00:13:22.530 --> 00:13:25.230
- The absolute magnitude of
plastics that are made today

00:13:25.230 --> 00:13:27.870
that cannot be recycled
through mechanical recycling

00:13:27.870 --> 00:13:31.287
is vast, including carpet, clothing,

00:13:31.287 --> 00:13:33.240
and all kinds of other things.

00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:36.330
And that's where advanced
recycling technologies

00:13:36.330 --> 00:13:38.823
have a massive potential role to play.

00:13:40.890 --> 00:13:42.330
- [Narrator] Gregg Beckham and Kat Knauer

00:13:42.330 --> 00:13:43.740
are two of the leading researchers

00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.170
at the US Department
of Energy's Consortium

00:13:46.170 --> 00:13:47.940
on Bio-Optimized Technologies

00:13:47.940 --> 00:13:51.270
to keep Thermoplastics out of
Landfills and the Environment,

00:13:51.270 --> 00:13:53.133
otherwise known as BOTTLE.

00:13:53.970 --> 00:13:56.190
Their work takes aim at
the longstanding challenge

00:13:56.190 --> 00:13:57.930
that the plastics we use today

00:13:57.930 --> 00:14:00.280
simply weren't designed
with recycling in mind.

00:14:02.160 --> 00:14:03.990
- [Kat] With mechanical recycling,

00:14:03.990 --> 00:14:08.610
your plastic water bottle is
just chopped up, melted down,

00:14:08.610 --> 00:14:11.640
and reformed into potentially
another plastic water bottle

00:14:11.640 --> 00:14:13.470
or perhaps something different.

00:14:13.470 --> 00:14:17.013
And structurally, nothing
changes in the material.

00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:21.060
This type of recycling is
also very, very, very limited

00:14:21.060 --> 00:14:23.190
by any kind of contamination.

00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:25.860
So even your residual
milk in your milk jugs

00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:30.120
can cause contamination and
smell and odor and color.

00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:32.550
And unfortunately, what
you get usually at the end

00:14:32.550 --> 00:14:35.070
is usually of lower value
than what it started from

00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:36.930
because of this limitation

00:14:36.930 --> 00:14:40.260
that you're just melting
everything down together.

00:14:40.260 --> 00:14:43.230
In chemical recycling
and biological recycling,

00:14:43.230 --> 00:14:46.500
they're utilizing technologies
that break the bonds

00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:50.340
to much easier to
process smaller molecules

00:14:50.340 --> 00:14:53.370
that can then be separated
and purified out,

00:14:53.370 --> 00:14:56.040
overcoming the food contamination,

00:14:56.040 --> 00:14:58.440
the color, the adhesives, the dyes,

00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:00.790
all these things that
are in our waste streams.

00:15:02.550 --> 00:15:04.710
- [Narrator] Among the range
of techniques under development

00:15:04.710 --> 00:15:06.540
are methods of breaking plastics down

00:15:06.540 --> 00:15:09.360
by naturally occurring
enzymes and bacteria,

00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:10.533
as well as simple heat.

00:15:12.390 --> 00:15:14.820
Each method has its own
strengths and weaknesses,

00:15:14.820 --> 00:15:16.890
and understanding how
each can best be used

00:15:16.890 --> 00:15:20.013
requires consideration of
what plastic itself is.

00:15:21.900 --> 00:15:24.660
- Plastics are comprised
of what's called polymers.

00:15:24.660 --> 00:15:26.430
They're a series of molecules

00:15:26.430 --> 00:15:28.230
all covalently attached to each other

00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:32.070
so they make these super
long macromolecular chains.

00:15:32.070 --> 00:15:34.200
And when those chains
are all existing together

00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:35.700
like a bowl of spaghetti,

00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:39.240
they provide really strong
mechanical reinforcement to them

00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:42.483
while still being super
flexible and really lightweight.

00:15:44.700 --> 00:15:45.690
So when they were discovered,

00:15:45.690 --> 00:15:47.716
they were one of the most
remarkable discoveries

00:15:47.716 --> 00:15:48.870
of all time.

00:15:48.870 --> 00:15:51.780
No one had ever seen something
like a piece of plastic,

00:15:51.780 --> 00:15:53.910
and that's why they entered into our world

00:15:53.910 --> 00:15:56.940
in such a rapid fashion and
became very, very cheaply made

00:15:56.940 --> 00:15:59.700
and easily disposed of, and
life seemed to get better.

00:15:59.700 --> 00:16:02.930
But that being said, we
now are in this crisis

00:16:02.930 --> 00:16:06.300
in that we produced and used
in such an alarming rate

00:16:06.300 --> 00:16:08.820
that we're now completely
inundated with this material

00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:11.070
that we're deriving from petroleum oil.

00:16:11.070 --> 00:16:12.870
Most of our fossil fuel consumption

00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:16.020
is actually coming from the
production of these plastics,

00:16:16.020 --> 00:16:18.420
which is why it's
becoming an energy crisis

00:16:18.420 --> 00:16:20.283
and not just this waste crisis.

00:16:22.140 --> 00:16:24.180
- [Narrator] But if plastic
plays such a large role

00:16:24.180 --> 00:16:27.033
in environmental harm, why
not simply eliminate it?

00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:30.060
- More and more cities across the country

00:16:30.060 --> 00:16:31.770
are banning plastic straws.

00:16:31.770 --> 00:16:35.340
- A ban on single-use
plastics such as straws,

00:16:35.340 --> 00:16:36.840
cups, and plates.

00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:39.270
- A new plan to ban plastics.

00:16:39.270 --> 00:16:41.103
- Ban those products forever.

00:16:43.500 --> 00:16:45.240
- [Narrator] To calculate
the environmental impacts

00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:46.620
of any material,

00:16:46.620 --> 00:16:49.920
experts use a system called
lifecycle assessment.

00:16:49.920 --> 00:16:51.600
And when applied to plastics,

00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:53.403
the results may come as a surprise.

00:16:55.020 --> 00:16:57.090
- A PET water bottle has about a third

00:16:57.090 --> 00:16:59.370
of the carbon footprint
of a glass container

00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:01.170
and about half the carbon footprint

00:17:01.170 --> 00:17:02.520
of an aluminum container.

00:17:02.520 --> 00:17:06.240
So if we were to eliminate
all plastic water bottles

00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:09.420
and replace them with
an alternate material,

00:17:09.420 --> 00:17:12.120
we are looking at larger
environmental impacts

00:17:12.120 --> 00:17:13.230
in other areas.

00:17:13.230 --> 00:17:15.720
And this is where
lifecycle thinking comes in

00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:18.270
in our environmental decision making.

00:17:18.270 --> 00:17:20.310
We aren't gonna ban our way out of this.

00:17:20.310 --> 00:17:24.000
We need to be employing new technologies,

00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.820
creating new pathways for manufacturing

00:17:26.820 --> 00:17:29.133
in order to solve this.

00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:32.130
- I think it's important
for us all to keep in mind

00:17:32.130 --> 00:17:33.960
that plastics are not evil.

00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:35.310
From an environmental perspective,

00:17:35.310 --> 00:17:37.410
plastics are extremely lightweight

00:17:37.410 --> 00:17:40.110
when we compare it to
things like steel and glass.

00:17:40.110 --> 00:17:42.030
And that makes traveling in an airplane

00:17:42.030 --> 00:17:43.890
the same as in a car,
the same as in a truck,

00:17:43.890 --> 00:17:45.510
to be much more fuel efficient.

00:17:45.510 --> 00:17:47.460
They also make our food last much longer,

00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:48.780
which food waste itself

00:17:48.780 --> 00:17:51.030
is a massive environmental
challenge as well.

00:17:52.020 --> 00:17:54.060
- And while there is a
very negative connotation

00:17:54.060 --> 00:17:56.850
associated with plastics currently,

00:17:56.850 --> 00:17:58.830
I think we need to
remember what they've done

00:17:58.830 --> 00:18:01.980
in terms of hospital
acquired infectious diseases.

00:18:01.980 --> 00:18:03.330
So now when you enter a hospital,

00:18:03.330 --> 00:18:06.060
everything is very sterilized
rather than metal tools

00:18:06.060 --> 00:18:08.130
that did not have the same capabilities.

00:18:08.130 --> 00:18:11.040
Our homes are more durable
and energy efficient,

00:18:11.040 --> 00:18:14.250
and I think that this mentality
that we need to shift away

00:18:14.250 --> 00:18:16.590
that buying yogurt in a glass container

00:18:16.590 --> 00:18:18.690
is somehow gonna be better

00:18:18.690 --> 00:18:20.130
doesn't really make a lot of sense

00:18:20.130 --> 00:18:21.840
when you consider that glass container,

00:18:21.840 --> 00:18:23.880
it goes into the same recycling bin

00:18:23.880 --> 00:18:27.390
and most states in the
US do not recycle glass.

00:18:27.390 --> 00:18:28.380
And when it is recycled,

00:18:28.380 --> 00:18:30.630
it's usually ground down
and placed into concrete.

00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:33.150
You're kind of in that
same circle that you're in

00:18:33.150 --> 00:18:35.760
with plastics recycling,
it's the same conundrums.

00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:37.620
Is this true circularity?

00:18:37.620 --> 00:18:39.840
Plastics are making things better

00:18:39.840 --> 00:18:42.030
on an environmental and social impact,

00:18:42.030 --> 00:18:45.210
but it's the pollution and
energy that's used to make them

00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:47.883
that is the problem
we're trying to address.

00:18:54.061 --> 00:18:56.644
(serene music)

00:19:04.560 --> 00:19:05.970
- So what we're doing here today

00:19:05.970 --> 00:19:08.760
is looking at several different enzymes

00:19:08.760 --> 00:19:10.080
that haven't been tested before,

00:19:10.080 --> 00:19:12.120
and we're trying to find
out if they're active

00:19:12.120 --> 00:19:15.540
at degrading or hydrolyzing PET plastic.

00:19:15.540 --> 00:19:18.090
And so the way we find out
whether there's success or not

00:19:18.090 --> 00:19:20.700
is we're looking for the monomers

00:19:20.700 --> 00:19:22.800
that are broken off of the polymer.

00:19:22.800 --> 00:19:24.120
And these enzymes, what they're gonna do

00:19:24.120 --> 00:19:25.950
is they're gonna start
breaking those bonds

00:19:25.950 --> 00:19:27.900
and releasing the smaller fragments

00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:29.520
and we can quantitate that amount

00:19:29.520 --> 00:19:31.620
and then it gives us a comparison as well.

00:19:31.620 --> 00:19:34.110
And so these are really small.

00:19:34.110 --> 00:19:35.580
This isn't gonna get us very far

00:19:35.580 --> 00:19:38.970
trying to tackle the global
plastic waste problem,

00:19:38.970 --> 00:19:40.980
but this gives us baseline data.

00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:41.910
And then the next step would be

00:19:41.910 --> 00:19:44.220
to scale up to at least a liter.

00:19:44.220 --> 00:19:45.840
And that starts to look a lot more

00:19:45.840 --> 00:19:49.170
like what an industrial or a
commercial recycling facility

00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:50.003
would look like.

00:19:52.140 --> 00:19:55.500
- There's a large
community of researchers,

00:19:55.500 --> 00:19:57.720
scientists, engineers in the world today

00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:00.000
who are thinking about
how do we start over

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:01.470
on plastics design.

00:20:01.470 --> 00:20:03.240
In the BOTTLE Consortium
what we're trying to do

00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:06.900
is marry that concept of starting over,

00:20:06.900 --> 00:20:09.450
making polymers that are
inherently recyclable

00:20:09.450 --> 00:20:11.640
with advanced recycling
of today's plastics

00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:13.380
where we can take mixed plastic waste,

00:20:13.380 --> 00:20:16.380
we can use chemistry to break those down

00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:17.940
with a figurative hammer

00:20:17.940 --> 00:20:21.750
and then use biology through
a microbial cell factory

00:20:21.750 --> 00:20:24.150
and make building blocks for polymers

00:20:24.150 --> 00:20:26.200
that are inherently recyclable by design.

00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:30.480
- [Narrator] In practice,
this means that mixed

00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:31.770
and degraded plastic waste

00:20:31.770 --> 00:20:34.110
can be transformed into new polymers,

00:20:34.110 --> 00:20:36.690
like polyhydroxyalkanoates,

00:20:36.690 --> 00:20:40.620
commonly known as PHAs or bioplastics.

00:20:40.620 --> 00:20:42.420
PHAs have the benefit of being both

00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:44.580
compostable and recyclable,

00:20:44.580 --> 00:20:47.610
and in some cases even marine degradable.

00:20:47.610 --> 00:20:49.380
So if it were to end up in the ocean,

00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:51.720
it would dissolve into
harmless organic materials

00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:53.730
in a matter of months or years

00:20:53.730 --> 00:20:55.533
rather than centuries or millennia.

00:20:56.730 --> 00:20:58.650
The downside to bioplastics?

00:20:58.650 --> 00:21:02.130
They're typically made from
plants like corn or wheat.

00:21:02.130 --> 00:21:03.810
To scale this up for mass production

00:21:03.810 --> 00:21:05.640
would require diverting a massive amount

00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:07.650
of agricultural resources

00:21:07.650 --> 00:21:10.320
from an already strained
food supply chain.

00:21:10.320 --> 00:21:12.270
But what if this could
instead be accomplished

00:21:12.270 --> 00:21:14.013
using today's waste plastic?

00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:17.730
- Circularity can be redefined

00:21:17.730 --> 00:21:19.650
and circularity doesn't need to be

00:21:19.650 --> 00:21:21.540
polyethylene to polyethylene.

00:21:21.540 --> 00:21:26.160
It can be polyethylene
to 35 different products.

00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.290
We've even looked into technologies

00:21:28.290 --> 00:21:32.370
of how to digest some of these structures

00:21:32.370 --> 00:21:36.330
into vitamins and health
supplements and animal feed.

00:21:36.330 --> 00:21:39.060
And I know that sounds
kind of like sci-fi future

00:21:39.060 --> 00:21:41.280
that we'd be eating plastics
and that might scare people,

00:21:41.280 --> 00:21:45.510
but the reality is they are
the same carbons and structures

00:21:45.510 --> 00:21:47.850
that you're putting into your body a lot.

00:21:47.850 --> 00:21:50.640
And so this is a very, very
futuristic way of thinking

00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:52.740
that maybe one day plastics become food

00:21:52.740 --> 00:21:55.020
and not the microplastics in your fish

00:21:55.020 --> 00:21:56.100
that we're all eating.

00:21:56.100 --> 00:21:59.910
I mean that it can actually
become real proteins

00:21:59.910 --> 00:22:01.590
that can enrich our diets

00:22:01.590 --> 00:22:04.410
and have this now food
source available to us

00:22:04.410 --> 00:22:07.290
in a world where food is
starting to become a crisis.

00:22:07.290 --> 00:22:09.840
And so it's a novel way
of thinking about it,

00:22:09.840 --> 00:22:13.290
and that's kind of how I
picture a world for recycling

00:22:13.290 --> 00:22:18.000
that there's tons of pathways
for these carbons to go into

00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:21.093
and we don't need to just
limit them to plastics.

00:22:23.970 --> 00:22:25.080
- [Narrator] But while these technologies

00:22:25.080 --> 00:22:26.970
form a roadmap for the future,

00:22:26.970 --> 00:22:30.390
advanced recycling is taking
a foothold in the present.

00:22:30.390 --> 00:22:32.820
And among the first to
reach industrial scale

00:22:32.820 --> 00:22:34.593
is San Francisco's Brightmark.

00:22:36.690 --> 00:22:39.840
- Consuming less single
use plastics is essential.

00:22:39.840 --> 00:22:43.200
However, many of the uses of plastics

00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:46.200
are either difficult or irreplaceable.

00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:49.584
In fact, two thirds of
the overlooked plastics

00:22:49.584 --> 00:22:54.584
that are created are in areas
like healthcare, textiles,

00:22:54.900 --> 00:22:57.960
electronics, and the automobile industry.

00:22:57.960 --> 00:23:02.190
There are not any really
good alternatives for those.

00:23:02.190 --> 00:23:03.900
So for the first time ever,

00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:06.870
we can take those necessary plastics,

00:23:06.870 --> 00:23:11.160
particularly the hard to
recycle 3 through 7 plastics

00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:14.073
and convert them back
into useful products.

00:23:16.110 --> 00:23:18.090
- [Narrator] Brightmark's
plastic renewal technology

00:23:18.090 --> 00:23:21.630
is based on pyrolysis, a process
of breaking chemical bonds

00:23:21.630 --> 00:23:24.570
by applying heat in the absence of oxygen.

00:23:24.570 --> 00:23:27.180
It's a technique that's been
known for over a thousand years

00:23:27.180 --> 00:23:30.180
and is the basis of
producing charcoal from wood.

00:23:30.180 --> 00:23:31.560
But when applied to plastic,

00:23:31.560 --> 00:23:33.990
an entirely different result is achieved.

00:23:33.990 --> 00:23:36.030
It turns back into the original petroleum

00:23:36.030 --> 00:23:37.530
it was created from.

00:23:37.530 --> 00:23:38.850
Whether that's used for fuel

00:23:38.850 --> 00:23:40.590
or to produce new plastic products

00:23:40.590 --> 00:23:42.496
is a question of market demand.

00:23:42.496 --> 00:23:44.550
And it's a question that
will begin to be answered

00:23:44.550 --> 00:23:45.780
in rural Indiana

00:23:45.780 --> 00:23:48.393
as Brightmark's first major
facility comes online.

00:23:50.014 --> 00:23:52.597
(bright music)

00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:00.450
- [Bob] What's really amazing
about us nearing completion

00:24:00.450 --> 00:24:04.590
in Ashley, Indiana is for
the first time possible,

00:24:04.590 --> 00:24:06.990
this process known as pyrolysis,

00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:10.170
which has had a lot of hope for the future

00:24:10.170 --> 00:24:13.260
will finally be demonstrated

00:24:13.260 --> 00:24:15.600
at a scale that can work globally.

00:24:15.600 --> 00:24:19.290
A hundred thousand tons of
plastics a year is an awful lot.

00:24:19.290 --> 00:24:22.980
It's very scalable so as
we complete that project,

00:24:22.980 --> 00:24:27.180
we're at a moment where
the world can finally see

00:24:27.180 --> 00:24:29.670
there is a viable solution

00:24:29.670 --> 00:24:32.073
to all the plastics we have out there.

00:24:38.970 --> 00:24:41.070
- [Jay] We're located
here in Ashley, Indiana,

00:24:41.070 --> 00:24:44.370
which is roughly halfway
between Chicago and Cleveland.

00:24:44.370 --> 00:24:48.960
Within about 170 miles of
here is a pool of material

00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:51.060
that's right now heading to the landfills.

00:24:52.320 --> 00:24:54.780
You can see here this is where we store

00:24:54.780 --> 00:24:57.840
roughly three days supply of feedstock,

00:24:57.840 --> 00:25:01.230
which is around 900 tons of material.

00:25:01.230 --> 00:25:03.660
And we get it generally
from recycling centers

00:25:03.660 --> 00:25:06.120
where they'll pull out
the valuable materials

00:25:06.120 --> 00:25:09.180
and this is the stream
that they can't handle.

00:25:09.180 --> 00:25:13.740
These are general recycling
bales where you have containers,

00:25:13.740 --> 00:25:18.740
film, bottles, different plastic parts.

00:25:19.110 --> 00:25:21.300
So pretty much everything you see

00:25:21.300 --> 00:25:23.883
is a candidate for our process.

00:25:26.550 --> 00:25:28.560
And they'll bring the material down

00:25:28.560 --> 00:25:30.210
into our processing system

00:25:30.210 --> 00:25:33.090
where we have two separate mirrored lines

00:25:33.090 --> 00:25:35.210
where we can process roughly

00:25:35.210 --> 00:25:39.120
12,000 pounds an hour on each line,

00:25:39.120 --> 00:25:42.063
and then it can be pelletized
into a dense pellet.

00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:46.440
The pellets then come up this conveyor

00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:48.750
and they drop into a
hopper where they can feed

00:25:48.750 --> 00:25:51.753
right outside to the
plastic conversion units.

00:25:55.260 --> 00:25:59.963
And then we have a fully
enclosed oxygen starved vessel

00:26:00.810 --> 00:26:04.740
where we thermally break
apart the plastic components

00:26:04.740 --> 00:26:06.450
into smaller pieces.

00:26:06.450 --> 00:26:08.430
And then we capture that vapor

00:26:08.430 --> 00:26:10.170
and condense it down into a liquid,

00:26:10.170 --> 00:26:12.900
which is a light sweet crude oil.

00:26:12.900 --> 00:26:16.710
This large column is a
a distillation column.

00:26:16.710 --> 00:26:18.780
So the heavy stuff comes off the bottom,

00:26:18.780 --> 00:26:20.280
the middle stuff comes off the middle

00:26:20.280 --> 00:26:21.990
and the light stuff comes off the top

00:26:21.990 --> 00:26:25.950
so it's just old school
chemistry basically

00:26:25.950 --> 00:26:28.563
that we're doing at an industrial scale.

00:26:31.140 --> 00:26:33.360
- [Narrator] Pyrolysis isn't
the most sophisticated form

00:26:33.360 --> 00:26:34.920
of advanced recycling.

00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:36.570
Compared to emerging technologies

00:26:36.570 --> 00:26:38.970
like enzyme or biological recycling,

00:26:38.970 --> 00:26:41.490
it's significantly less energy efficient,

00:26:41.490 --> 00:26:43.470
but it is available today.

00:26:43.470 --> 00:26:46.140
And more importantly, it
presents a viable market

00:26:46.140 --> 00:26:49.020
for taking plastic waste
out of the environment.

00:26:49.020 --> 00:26:50.970
While critics contend that turning plastic

00:26:50.970 --> 00:26:54.210
into gasoline or diesel
fuel isn't true recycling,

00:26:54.210 --> 00:26:55.770
it's impossible to overlook the fact

00:26:55.770 --> 00:26:58.623
that fossil fuels will still
be in use for years to come.

00:26:59.460 --> 00:27:02.790
Pyrolyzed fuels offset the
need to extract crude oil,

00:27:02.790 --> 00:27:04.710
and that could be exactly
what industries need

00:27:04.710 --> 00:27:06.710
while transitioning to renewable energy.

00:27:07.950 --> 00:27:09.780
- We are creating value

00:27:09.780 --> 00:27:13.230
so that plastics don't end up in landfills

00:27:13.230 --> 00:27:15.720
and in waterways and in oceans.

00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:20.010
Is the end state creating
transportation fuels what I want?

00:27:20.010 --> 00:27:21.060
Absolutely not.

00:27:21.060 --> 00:27:25.080
Our goal is to have zero
combustible products

00:27:25.080 --> 00:27:26.190
that we produce.

00:27:26.190 --> 00:27:27.450
It's a journey though.

00:27:27.450 --> 00:27:32.100
If it is in people's interest economically

00:27:32.100 --> 00:27:34.980
to recycle plastics or anything,

00:27:34.980 --> 00:27:38.340
and it creates a better
environmental outcome,

00:27:38.340 --> 00:27:42.420
I think you end up with
long-term economic sustainability

00:27:42.420 --> 00:27:44.313
for sustainable solutions.

00:27:47.340 --> 00:27:49.530
- [Narrator] But regardless
of which method is used,

00:27:49.530 --> 00:27:51.240
mixed and degraded plastic waste

00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:54.300
has no future without advanced recycling.

00:27:54.300 --> 00:27:57.183
And nowhere is more of it to
be found than in our oceans.

00:27:58.290 --> 00:28:00.210
Organizations working on ocean cleanup

00:28:00.210 --> 00:28:01.713
are often met with skepticism.

00:28:02.610 --> 00:28:05.130
Critics point to the need
for global policy changes

00:28:05.130 --> 00:28:07.320
and industry regulation to stop plastics

00:28:07.320 --> 00:28:09.360
from ending up in waterways.

00:28:09.360 --> 00:28:11.310
But that's only half the equation.

00:28:11.310 --> 00:28:14.430
Because even if all plastic
pollution ended today,

00:28:14.430 --> 00:28:17.610
the 5 trillion individual
pieces of plastic in our oceans

00:28:17.610 --> 00:28:19.143
would continue to multiply.

00:28:20.100 --> 00:28:23.010
Why? Because they're fragmenting.

00:28:23.010 --> 00:28:24.450
And while many types of marine debris

00:28:24.450 --> 00:28:25.710
will float on the surface

00:28:25.710 --> 00:28:27.720
and eventually be carried to shore,

00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:31.470
fragmented microplastics spread
throughout the water column

00:28:31.470 --> 00:28:34.440
poisoning marine life and
disrupting the food web,

00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:37.240
in addition to being difficult
or impossible to recover.

00:28:39.780 --> 00:28:40.980
- [Scott] At this time,

00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:43.770
a lot of the plastics we
find are still intact.

00:28:43.770 --> 00:28:44.700
We can pick 'em up.

00:28:44.700 --> 00:28:46.890
So if you pick up a five gallon bucket

00:28:46.890 --> 00:28:47.760
that weighs two pounds,

00:28:47.760 --> 00:28:50.400
you're removing two pounds of
plastic in about two seconds.

00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.040
If you wait 10 years or 20 years,

00:28:53.040 --> 00:28:55.620
that plastic bucket is
now thousands of fragments

00:28:55.620 --> 00:28:58.050
and it's nearly impossible
to clean up at that point.

00:28:58.050 --> 00:29:01.380
And so we've got a limited
amount of time to work with

00:29:01.380 --> 00:29:03.180
before these materials degrade

00:29:03.180 --> 00:29:05.070
and really become a much higher hazard.

00:29:05.070 --> 00:29:06.720
So we feel like we're in a race

00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:09.563
to get this material off the
beaches and out of the ocean.

00:29:14.040 --> 00:29:15.480
- [Narrator] Scott Farling is a co-founder

00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.270
of the Ocean Plastics Recovery Project.

00:29:18.270 --> 00:29:20.370
His team is leading a
series of expeditions

00:29:20.370 --> 00:29:21.600
to recover marine debris

00:29:21.600 --> 00:29:23.583
from the remote wilderness of Alaska.

00:29:24.870 --> 00:29:26.130
- [Scott] This is Katmai National Park

00:29:26.130 --> 00:29:28.140
and it's a pretty spectacular place

00:29:28.140 --> 00:29:29.730
and it's been heavily
impacted by plastics.

00:29:29.730 --> 00:29:30.672
There are no people here,

00:29:30.672 --> 00:29:32.880
but the plastics make it here.

00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:34.740
They come up through
across the North Pacific,

00:29:34.740 --> 00:29:37.680
through the Gulf of Alaska and
get trapped on the beaches.

00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:40.320
And so our goal is to clean this park.

00:29:40.320 --> 00:29:42.090
We've been working at
it for two years now.

00:29:42.090 --> 00:29:44.070
This is our final expedition to the park.

00:29:44.070 --> 00:29:46.800
We expect to collect about
50,000 pounds of material

00:29:46.800 --> 00:29:47.760
off the beaches.

00:29:47.760 --> 00:29:49.860
And then we've partnered
with a number of recyclers

00:29:49.860 --> 00:29:51.750
from mechanical recyclers,
chemical recyclers,

00:29:51.750 --> 00:29:53.460
conversion technologies

00:29:53.460 --> 00:29:56.410
to take those materials and
get them back into the economy.

00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:01.800
- [Andy] Cleaned up all this already.

00:30:01.800 --> 00:30:03.990
- Yeah.
- Cleaned up all this already.

00:30:03.990 --> 00:30:05.610
There's a large piece of marine debris

00:30:05.610 --> 00:30:08.070
that I just want to get my eyes on

00:30:08.070 --> 00:30:11.283
hopefully through a drone
flight right around there.

00:30:12.300 --> 00:30:13.740
It might be too big for us to handle,

00:30:13.740 --> 00:30:15.810
it might need to be cut
into smaller pieces,

00:30:15.810 --> 00:30:19.443
but I think the first thing
to do is get eyes on it.

00:30:23.700 --> 00:30:25.440
- [Narrator] After decades
as a chemical engineer

00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:27.060
in the recycling industry,

00:30:27.060 --> 00:30:30.630
Scott and his team are moving
beyond simple beach cleanups.

00:30:30.630 --> 00:30:32.700
They're creating a
blueprint for organizations

00:30:32.700 --> 00:30:36.270
and governments around the
world to process marine debris.

00:30:36.270 --> 00:30:39.120
How to effectively recycle
degraded ocean plastics

00:30:39.120 --> 00:30:41.520
is not an easy problem to solve.

00:30:41.520 --> 00:30:43.920
But in doing so, there's
a massive potential

00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:46.830
for an entire field of
emerging technologies

00:30:46.830 --> 00:30:49.683
and an entire generation of
young minds to develop them.

00:30:52.020 --> 00:30:55.140
- We're really hoping to
educate the future generation

00:30:55.140 --> 00:30:56.730
to really provide the workforce

00:30:56.730 --> 00:30:58.920
to build out our recycling
infrastructure in the US.

00:30:58.920 --> 00:30:59.753
We don't have that,

00:30:59.753 --> 00:31:02.670
it's not a formal education
program right now for recycling,

00:31:02.670 --> 00:31:04.973
and we're really trying
to build that component.

00:31:06.090 --> 00:31:06.923
On this trip,

00:31:06.923 --> 00:31:09.180
we've got students from
Western Washington University

00:31:09.180 --> 00:31:10.980
and Oregon State University.

00:31:10.980 --> 00:31:12.180
One of our team members here

00:31:12.180 --> 00:31:15.240
has led their group to redesign
their pyrolysis reactor,

00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:17.370
and we're getting much
better performance now

00:31:17.370 --> 00:31:18.203
and so we're ready

00:31:18.203 --> 00:31:19.920
to start running ocean
plastics through it.

00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:22.200
They'll be taking our
degraded polyethylene

00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:23.910
and polypropylene materials

00:31:23.910 --> 00:31:25.773
and converting that to diesel fuel.

00:31:27.150 --> 00:31:29.008
And then we also bring
industry professionals.

00:31:29.008 --> 00:31:31.170
On this trip we have a marine biologist,

00:31:31.170 --> 00:31:33.600
we have a researcher from
University of Berkeley.

00:31:33.600 --> 00:31:34.680
We've got a scientist

00:31:34.680 --> 00:31:37.020
that's helped develop
some sensing technology

00:31:37.020 --> 00:31:38.850
for determining what types of plastics are

00:31:38.850 --> 00:31:40.140
using a handheld device.

00:31:40.140 --> 00:31:40.980
It's really important for us

00:31:40.980 --> 00:31:42.750
to bring all those people together

00:31:42.750 --> 00:31:45.350
to do this work together
and learn from one another.

00:31:52.312 --> 00:31:55.395
(plastic cup clacks)

00:31:59.163 --> 00:32:01.770
(crane whirring)

00:32:01.770 --> 00:32:06.187
(indistinct background conversation)

00:32:11.573 --> 00:32:14.906
(plastic bags rustling)

00:32:18.265 --> 00:32:21.323
- Oh yeah.
- Cool. Perfect.

00:32:23.333 --> 00:32:26.833
(indistinct conversation)

00:32:33.106 --> 00:32:36.023
(plastic rustling)

00:32:39.537 --> 00:32:42.000
- And so it's really
cool to see the chemists

00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:45.390
and the biologists and
the chemical engineers

00:32:45.390 --> 00:32:48.120
and the polymer composite
engineers all come together.

00:32:48.120 --> 00:32:51.750
These are some of the toughest,
strongest, smartest women.

00:32:51.750 --> 00:32:55.440
And there is so much
diversity in backgrounds

00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:58.110
and methodology and knowledge here.

00:32:58.110 --> 00:33:02.610
And so it's been a lot of
sharing of that knowledge.

00:33:02.610 --> 00:33:04.680
- [Ani] When we first
pulled into Hallo Bay,

00:33:04.680 --> 00:33:07.770
like our first stop, it
was absolutely beautiful.

00:33:07.770 --> 00:33:11.220
You could see this perfect
glacier in the background,

00:33:11.220 --> 00:33:14.100
these nice tall, waving mountains.

00:33:14.100 --> 00:33:16.140
You could see bears just on the coast.

00:33:16.140 --> 00:33:18.150
But when we actually got onto the skiff

00:33:18.150 --> 00:33:20.670
and got onto the coast,
there were giant lines,

00:33:20.670 --> 00:33:22.200
lots of nets,

00:33:22.200 --> 00:33:25.800
and there was just tons
of actual rigid plastics

00:33:25.800 --> 00:33:27.600
and I remember one of the
ones that really stuck out

00:33:27.600 --> 00:33:30.390
was this very, very brittle palette

00:33:30.390 --> 00:33:33.330
that we literally had to
excavate out of the ground.

00:33:33.330 --> 00:33:35.220
But as we were trying to excavate it,

00:33:35.220 --> 00:33:38.280
it just kept breaking into
smaller and smaller pieces.

00:33:38.280 --> 00:33:39.630
It's a very sobering experience

00:33:39.630 --> 00:33:42.360
seeing such a beautiful
place kind of tarnished

00:33:42.360 --> 00:33:47.013
by our inability to control
a problem that we created.

00:33:49.950 --> 00:33:51.240
- [Narrator] Given the scope and impact

00:33:51.240 --> 00:33:53.490
of plastic pollution on the environment,

00:33:53.490 --> 00:33:56.280
is it unreasonable to be optimistic?

00:33:56.280 --> 00:33:58.560
Is it too late for recycling?

00:33:58.560 --> 00:34:02.550
For those working to solve these
problems, the answer is no.

00:34:02.550 --> 00:34:04.833
Now is the time to reinvent recycling.

00:34:06.840 --> 00:34:09.300
- People really shouldn't
look at the solutions

00:34:09.300 --> 00:34:11.190
for recycling in terms of the technology

00:34:11.190 --> 00:34:13.230
that was available 10 or 20 years ago,

00:34:13.230 --> 00:34:15.510
they really need to be focused
on the technology of today.

00:34:15.510 --> 00:34:17.160
- We're seeing this huge boom

00:34:17.160 --> 00:34:20.940
of just ingenious ideas coming
out to sort plastics better,

00:34:20.940 --> 00:34:23.790
to clean them better,
to lower water usage.

00:34:23.790 --> 00:34:26.400
And so innovation I
think is really driving

00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:29.520
so much in this space, probably more so

00:34:29.520 --> 00:34:32.400
than thinking about how
to get rid of plastic,

00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:36.720
it's really how do we manage
this forever moving forward?

00:34:36.720 --> 00:34:40.334
- Big problems require persistent optimism

00:34:40.334 --> 00:34:42.570
on a long-term basis.

00:34:42.570 --> 00:34:44.520
We've got a long way to go,

00:34:44.520 --> 00:34:47.010
but I'm optimistic we'll get there.

00:34:47.010 --> 00:34:51.060
- I think we very much can win this race.

00:34:51.060 --> 00:34:54.690
- No one organization, company,

00:34:54.690 --> 00:34:56.820
research institution or university

00:34:56.820 --> 00:34:58.770
is gonna solve this problem alone.

00:34:58.770 --> 00:35:01.350
We'll require many disciplines,

00:35:01.350 --> 00:35:05.160
not only science and
engineering, but policy,

00:35:05.160 --> 00:35:08.700
social science, education
all at the table together.

00:35:08.700 --> 00:35:10.260
- The good news is that there are

00:35:10.260 --> 00:35:13.020
a lot of technological answers

00:35:13.020 --> 00:35:16.380
to these big environmental
problems that we have right now.

00:35:16.380 --> 00:35:20.130
The question is, do we have
the will and the courage

00:35:20.130 --> 00:35:23.220
to break through the inertia to transition

00:35:23.220 --> 00:35:26.973
toward those more environmentally
friendly technologies?

00:35:29.700 --> 00:35:31.560
- [Narrator] Back at
Oregon State University,

00:35:31.560 --> 00:35:32.910
Ani and Maddie prepare to test

00:35:32.910 --> 00:35:34.650
the first batch of marine debris

00:35:34.650 --> 00:35:36.900
in their newly designed reactor.

00:35:36.900 --> 00:35:38.160
The results will help determine

00:35:38.160 --> 00:35:40.380
whether advanced recycling
of ocean plastics

00:35:40.380 --> 00:35:43.773
will remain a theoretical
hope or a practical future.

00:35:44.698 --> 00:35:47.615
(machine whirring)

00:35:51.078 --> 00:35:53.757
(bright music)

00:35:53.757 --> 00:35:54.590
- 150.

00:35:59.850 --> 00:36:01.110
- [Maddie] With marine debris,

00:36:01.110 --> 00:36:04.320
we think a lot about rural
and island communities.

00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:07.230
The places where plastic washes
up are gonna be the places

00:36:07.230 --> 00:36:09.660
with the least amount of infrastructure

00:36:09.660 --> 00:36:11.700
to handle that plastics problem,

00:36:11.700 --> 00:36:13.830
which is why we work so hard

00:36:13.830 --> 00:36:16.200
to make our reactor really simple to use.

00:36:16.200 --> 00:36:19.380
And because it's so
much easier to reproduce

00:36:19.380 --> 00:36:21.090
our new version of the reactor,

00:36:21.090 --> 00:36:24.720
we do a lot of proof of
concept of what about plastics

00:36:24.720 --> 00:36:26.490
that are washing up from the ocean.

00:36:26.490 --> 00:36:29.340
Could that go to a rural
or island community?

00:36:29.340 --> 00:36:31.170
And so we are testing things

00:36:31.170 --> 00:36:33.780
like what happens when we
have barnacles on our plastic,

00:36:33.780 --> 00:36:35.790
what happens when we have
salt water on our plastic,

00:36:35.790 --> 00:36:38.310
what happens when we have
seaweed in our plastic?

00:36:38.310 --> 00:36:41.070
And all of those things
we will work to test

00:36:41.070 --> 00:36:43.710
both with plastics from this trip

00:36:43.710 --> 00:36:47.548
and other sources of waste plastic.

00:36:47.548 --> 00:36:50.965
(bright music continues)

00:36:56.790 --> 00:36:58.860
- [Narrator] The tests are a success,

00:36:58.860 --> 00:37:01.740
but it's only one step
in a very long journey.

00:37:01.740 --> 00:37:02.760
And it may very well be

00:37:02.760 --> 00:37:05.130
that the scientists who complete this work

00:37:05.130 --> 00:37:06.273
have yet to be born.

00:37:07.710 --> 00:37:10.618
- The younger generation is eager to help.

00:37:10.618 --> 00:37:15.000
I work with elementary and
middle school kids all the time,

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:18.037
and the number of questions
they have when you say,

00:37:18.037 --> 00:37:21.660
"Oh, I turn plastic into
diesel," it's like magic.

00:37:21.660 --> 00:37:25.470
Their eyes light up. They
have endless questions.

00:37:25.470 --> 00:37:27.870
So while I may not be able

00:37:27.870 --> 00:37:30.300
to pick up all the plastic in the world,

00:37:30.300 --> 00:37:35.130
if I can excite five
more kids once a year,

00:37:35.130 --> 00:37:38.310
that there are people
working on this problem

00:37:38.310 --> 00:37:43.310
so keep your hopes up, that
will be a good day for me.

00:37:44.048 --> 00:37:47.131
(bright music fades)

00:37:52.166 --> 00:37:54.916
(rhythmic music)

00:38:02.068 --> 00:38:05.651
(rhythmic music continues)

00:38:12.149 --> 00:38:15.732
(rhythmic music continues)

00:38:22.206 --> 00:38:25.789
(rhythmic music continues)

00:38:32.140 --> 00:38:35.723
(rhythmic music continues)

00:38:42.096 --> 00:38:45.679
(rhythmic music continues)

00:38:52.043 --> 00:38:55.626
(rhythmic music continues)

00:39:02.080 --> 00:39:04.330
(no audio)