The Zero Waste Countdown Podcast

Dr. Denise Hardesty is a principal researcher at CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere in Hobart, Tasmania. She's done extensive research over the years on marine plastic debris by studying sea birds, sea turtles, and waste reduction campaigns.

We discuss what happens when certain marine animals digest plastic, whether it's safe for us to eat seafood that contains plastic, and what it's like to be a distinguished scientist in the field of marine debris research.

Bob Powell is the CEO of Brightmark, a disruptive and innovative company based in San Francisco who's turning plastic waste into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), while also recycling all types of plastic. 

For this “Call for Plastic Waste” - Brightmark is working to procure 1,200,000 tons per year of ALL post-use plastic types 1 through 7 from the Eastern half of the United States for recycling at its existing and soon-to-be-built plastics renewal plants nationwide.  

Brightmark’s Ashley, Indiana plastics renewal facility, where the plastic will be processed and transformed, is the nation’s first commercial-scale plastics-to-fuel plant. The financing for the facility includes $185 million in Indiana green bonds, which were underwritten by Goldman Sachs. 

BEYONDPLASTIC has announced the 2020 award winners to those who have come up with viable alternatives to plastic pollution.

Ulrich Krzyminski is the founder of BEYONDPLASTIC and he joined the ZWC to tell us all about the award program and the 2020 winners.

The BEYONDPLASTIC Award honours the innovation and creativity in sustainable product and packaging design in four categories:

I. Most practical impact

For each category there is a Gold, Silver and Bronze Award with trophies and cash prizes of more than 7,000 Euros in total.

BEYONDPLASTIC received over 100 entries in total from 30 countries around the world. Students, designers, charities and businesses all took part to create a world with less plastic. You can find out more about the 85 nominated entries by clicking here.

Lisa Zimmerman is a Ph.D researcher in the Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology at Goethe University Frankfurt and  part of the PlastX Research Group.

She conducted a study called Benchmarking the in Vitro Toxicity and Chemical Composition of Plastic Consumer Products. Lisa and her team took 34 products from German supermarkets like food containers, a water bottle, and a shampoo bottle, and cut them into pieces, then used an organic solvent to determine the toxic chemicals in the plastic packaging.

Lisa discussed the findings of her study, how it was conducted, and provided us some insight into what we can do to avoid harmful substances that may be in contact with our food. We discuss bioplastics, and how they might not be as healthy as we think, and I got to ask Lisa if it's true that plastic can act as a sponge by absorbing toxins. 

The Study: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b02293

Plastx Group: http://www.plastx.org/https://www.facebook.com/PlastX-1735826773399950/?fref=nf

Michael Shellenberger joins the ZWC to talk about his new bestselling book Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All. 

We discuss the problem of ocean plastic, highlighted in his book, but from an unusual angle - some animals have been saved from human hunting because plastic has replaced valuable animal parts. While we know plastic waste is a big problem, Michael has found some intriguing information about ocean plastic through his research.

Bernadette from the Congo, one of the featured women in Michael's new book

The main focus of the book is how development and progress ultimately saves the environment. We can save wild spaces by using cleaner energy, advanced technology, and therefore put less pressure on wildlife and wild lands. We discuss the hierarchy of energy which starts at wood, (even whale oil at one point!), coal, liquid natural gas, and finally nuclear. As we go up the ladder in clean energy, will it be possible for developing nations to skip the dirtier stages and go right to the cleanest energy, which is nuclear?

Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station, California

Why are people so against nuclear, and what about all that nuclear waste? What about the bomb?

Tune in and listen to one of the biggest names in the environment discuss science, ideas, and personal experiences in his new book, Apocalypse Never.

Suparti, who worked at the Barbie factory in Philippines

Michael Shellenberger, Founder and President of Environmental Progress

The Breakthrough Institute 

Christian Shaw is one of the founders of PlasticTides.org, an organization that matches youth interested in sustainability with mentors from around the world. His goal is to combine adventure and science through SUP (stand up paddle board) expeditions, researching ocean plastics with a device they tow behind their boards.  

We discuss how to get youth involved, as well as SUP (stand up paddle boarding), and how getting out on the water for an adventure helps people care about these natural places. 

There's still room to sign up students for the 2020/2021 season! 

Find out more:

Plastic Tides

The Microbead-Free Waters Act

Anato 

Bad Fish SUP

Glass is very popular in the zero waste world. We know it's BPA free, and we know it's not going to end up as microplastic in our environment, or leaking out into our hot beverages. But glass is difficult to recycle, it's expensive to collect and reuse glass bottles, and glass is easily breakable. How can we increase recycling and reuse rates of glass? 

Ionut Georgescu is the CEO of a non-profit called End of Waste Foundation, a blockchain service platform that's funded by environmentally conscious citizens and businesses. The funds are used to develop new technologies and offset costs associated with glass recycling.   

Ionut has been a waste management expert for more than 15 years, he's worked closely with the European Commission as a Waste Director for the Romanian Ministry of Environment, and as the Chief of Staff of the President of the United Nations Environment Program.

Cora Young is an atmospheric and analytical environmental chemist from York University in Toronto. Chemical and News Engineering Magazine has named her to the Talented 12 list, which recognizes up-and-coming chemistry researchers and innovators who are tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Cora went to the Arctic on a scientific research trip to take samples and found forever chemicals PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) in the Arctic.

CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) as an aerosol propellant were banned when we discovered they were breaking apart our planet’s ozone layer, but they were replaced with other forever chemicals that can cause problems as well. These chemicals keep getting replaced again and again as we discover the damages they are causing.

Cora and Laura discuss ways to reduce using these forever chemicals in everyday items around our home.

CEO of Pika Diapers Alon Cohen joins the ZWC to talk about his company's new diaper washing machine, making it easier for parents to use cloth instead of disposable diapers. 

Rich Razgaitis is the co-founder and CEO of FloWater, a company determined to stop the horrific flow of plastic from bottled water into our environment. 

Find out why Rich says bottled water is the new cigarette, and how his machines are filtering out tap water problems to bring the cleanest drinking water in the world to where we work, rest, and play.