A New Plastic Recycling Method | EarthxNews | EarthX - video Dailymotion

EarthxMedia

EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/   Could "microfactories" be the key ingredient to getting hard-to-recycle landfill-bound plastics back into the supply chain?   About EarthxNews:  A weekly program dedicated to covering the stories that shape the planet. Featuring the latest updates in energy, environment, tech, climate, and more.    EarthX  Love Our Planet.  The Official Network of Earth Day.    About Us:  At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.     EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.       EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/    Follow Us:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthxtv/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthxtv  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earthxtv      How to watch:   United States:   - Spectrum  - AT&T U-verse (1267)  - DIRECTV (267)  - Philo  - FuboTV  - Plex  - Fire TV   #EarthDay #Environment #Sustainability #Eco-friendly #Conservation #EarthxTV #EarthX

Transcript

00:00Have you heard the term microfactories?

00:05Researchers are testing out a new concept that could create a more sustainable process

00:10for recycling plastics.

00:12The potential solution is microfactories.

00:15And in Arizona, city leaders in Phoenix and scientists at Arizona State University are

00:20teaming up to explore how this type of facility could impact the industry, particularly when

00:26it comes to uniquely shaped products that the public doesn't typically recycle, like

00:31a child's old car booster seat or broken toys.

00:35Joining us now to discuss is Alicia Marce, Senior Director at Arizona State University.

00:40Alicia, welcome on.

00:43Thank you for having me.

00:44So what exactly is a microfactory?

00:48That's a great question.

00:49And our efforts are a multi-stakeholder, multi-partnership project where we are looking at

00:56transforming the entire system.

00:58And so we're working with the city of Phoenix, as well as Goodwill of Central and Northern

01:02Arizona and a community economic development organization to transform the value chain

01:08and how we collect, process and convert recycled plastics into new products.

01:13And so we, in this microfactory, are the first to combine material recovery with remanufacturing

01:20and create a closed loop system here in our region.

01:24So when it comes to recycling these plastics, how much actually gets recycled?

01:29Currently, less than 9% of plastic in the U.S. is recycled.

01:34Wow.

01:35That is far lower than I would have thought, than I think a lot of our viewers would have

01:38thought.

01:39How does that compare to other recycling rates for items like paper and glass?

01:47Glass is much higher, plastic.

01:50There are nuances, right, because every region recycles and has different recycling options

01:54available.

01:55And our goal is to localize, create a hyperlocal system for material recovery.

02:01We're starting with plastics and we're going to actually look at additional materials.

02:06But how do we create a hub and spoke model where materials can actually be recovered

02:11and remanufactured and keep the jobs local?

02:14So instead of shipping the materials overseas and the jobs overseas, how do we keep them

02:19local and create the opportunities here in our region?

02:22Why do you think there is a disparity?

02:25Oh, that's a great question.

02:28Quite complex, if you will.

02:29But I think part of it is, you know, how do we rethink consumer education and that it's

02:34not actually waste material?

02:36Plastic is actually a very valuable, pretty amazing material.

02:40So we actually collect more.

02:43How do we get it, keep it in the system longer?

02:45That's the goal of circular economy to extend the life cycle of the product.

02:49And something that we talk a lot about through our hubs is how do we bring what's considered

02:54back of house in terms of this type of processing front of house so people can actually see

02:59their recycled materials going in one end and then products coming out the other.

03:03So they're able to see the value of changing their behavior locally.

03:07So with these micro factories, I know we brought up the example of perhaps a child's car booster

03:13seat.

03:14What other types of items would you see getting recycled that would typically just end up

03:17in a landfill somewhere?

03:19Yep.

03:20So we're starting with, if you look at the bottom of a lot of your plastic goods, number

03:23twos and number fives.

03:25So the rigid plastics, cell phone cases like the multitude of materials and products are

03:30actually endless.

03:33Part of the challenge will be and what we've started discovering with Goodwill is they're

03:36not all labeled.

03:37Right.

03:38So a lot of the products that we're recycling don't have the triangle at the bottom.

03:41So we've invested in some technologies to sort and grade appropriately to understand

03:46the material property so we can increase the collections and then drive the consumer education

03:52to increase those collections by materials and products.

03:55Alicia Marce, thank you.

A New Plastic Recycling Method | EarthxNews | EarthX

Category

Transcript

Recommended