RS: So let me just get this straight. We can go a long way to helping this if we use a paper straw, which, ah --
DC: Well, I mean, if you like straws, you can do what I do, which is I carry reusable straws with me.
RS: But I really want to get the scope of this. And you said there are a few other headlines that -- I don't know, for me, this became vivid in your movie that you helped get out there, where I saw a straw in the eye of a green sea turtle.
DC: It was in its nostril.
RS: Nostril, right, sorry. That did it. That image has stuck with me, and I really, I don't think I've used a plastic straw since. I've obviously encountered plastic before. But I really want to get some of the numbers. And it seems to me the big issue here, and a big concern around the world, is people say to us, hey, you Americans started all this. You're the great wasters, you're the great -- you know, you gave us all this junk, you told us it was a great revolution, it represented freedom. And now you suddenly decided that all of us have got to cut back. And I want to take the example of China, because that has been in the news a little bit. I mean, OK, people describe China as a great polluter -- well, China's got a great population, right? And are we now saying to China, to India, we had our ride with waste and with plastic and other things that pollute the environment, and now we're going to try to cut back, but you guys have really got to cut back. And I want to ask you about a specific item of news, that for a while there -- and I've learned it from you -- we were shipping our recyclable plastic back to China, on empty cargo ships that were bringing us all our iPhones and everything else. And now, China doesn't want those recyclable --
DC: They're producing enough of their own.
RS: They're producing enough of their own. And so, the price paid for this is being cut in half, I gather, something like that. And therefore, the recyclers are not as interested in grabbing plastic to recycle, is that the case?
DC: Well, I mean, look. Recycling is a really cool idea, and I don't -- I put things in my recycling containers, where I live in Hollywood. And I wouldn't dissuade anyone from doing that, if there is some kind of infrastructure set up in your town where you live. But just because something could potentially be recycled -- does it actually get recycled? I think that's an important question to ask.
RS: So we want abstinence.
DC: Well, it's not good for your health, so if you reduce or -- if you refuse it in the beginning, then you reduce the amount that you're using, and you have less that you need to try to recycle or reuse.
RS: And that's the idea behind a metal straw, for instance, you can --
DC: A metal straw, a glass straw. I mean, there are also wonderful companies doing bamboo straws, growing straw out of rye wheat and hay. There's a straw company called LOLIWARE that is making straws out of seaweed, and they're nontoxic and they are, you know, 100% compostable, break down, because it's part of nature.
RS: OK, so give me the numbers. What percentage of this stuff ends up killing the planet and killing animals?
DC: Well, so, just this last week, Plastic Pollution Coalition released a new projection by chemical engineer Jan Dell, and in that she was looking at what's going on with recycling rates, and has predicted that recycling rates for plastic in the United States will be only 4.4% by the end of 2018. And that they potentially could sink as low as 2.9% in 2019. And that the four main reasons for this drop is that plastic waste generation is increasing exponentially in the United States; that exports counted as recycling; when China banned foreign waste, we suddenly have to deal with our own waste, basically, now. And then also, the costs of recycling are increasing, and you have to think about how many trucks are needed to create it, how widely it's dispersed, et cetera. And that's a big expense. And then plastic production -- internationally, but internally in the United States -- is really ramping up right now, and it's going to continue to explode. So we have a very big problem on our hands. It reminds me of that movie Wall-E, or Idiocracy, where people live in a world that's just full of waste, it's just a wasteland, like a garbage dump.
RS: Well, we're going to try to get some optimism in this, but first the break. [omission for station break] We're back with Dianna Cohen, the cofounder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition. And you know, I have a kind of schizzy feeling about this, because I keep making light of it. After all, it is plastic; plastic was designed to be light and beautiful and efficient and everything else --
DC: It is!
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
