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Thoisoi had a good idea recently with regards to plastics, but imo it's more about getting the ultra rich companies out there to actually give a damn about it, and let's face it, if it doesn't make them money or give them a way to skirt taxes they couldn't care less... Basically, we need to deal with human greed first, and yes, I know that sounds cynical but it's also realistic at the same time 😔
Genius, and one of the most underhyped innovations hands down... also can be done in most coastal towns.
Not sure, but it sounds interesting! Matt, could you do an episode on Aptera?
HEMP!
A great storyline for a science fiction novel: A scientist genetically engineers a plastic eating microbe that goes rogue and all our plastics start to disintegrate.
When it comes to reducing plastic, every little thing kelps.
@BenBenson Ha!
Jo Po on the smart video now with gold puns 🤣 always love your stuff on Joe Rogans comments all these years, thank you jopo
Man… props to you for that.
@@jasonfoo JoPo is legend of JRE comments, i am pretty sure its one of rogans comedian friends... or him pretending 😆
Never thought i would see the gold JoPo puns outside of jre heheh
When I was little about 45 years ago, I used to go shopping to the market with my granddad. Meat and fish would be wrapped in waxed brown paper, vegetables were put in paper bags, mostly made of old newspapers, and we would carry everything home in net bags, made of ropes. Liquids were sold in glass bottles, and empties were taken back to the same shops. Everything functioned perfectly. I'm hoping that there will be an alternative for most of today's single use plastics because, less than half a decade ago, there was!
Totally agree. Wax paper is nothing new, but should definitely not be ignored! There are so many things on our shelves that could be packaged in wax paper instead of plastic.
when i was a kid back in the 80's, the "milkmaid/milkman" on pushcart or bike would knock on our door during weekend mornings to sell fresh milk and milk chocolate drinks (Magnolia brand) in glass bottles of various sizes. i remember returning the empty bottles to get a discount. now everything is sold in tetra packs or plastic bottles.
Although those sound like better and more recycleable packaging options, they are not. The problem with glass is that it is expensive and very energy intensive to recycle. The problem with "recycling" paper is that it is impossible to truly recycle paper unless it has not come into contact with ink, plastic or glue. Trouble with ink is that it contains many different toxic compounds, most of which are carcinogous. Nope, there is no silver bullet for packaging, all alternatives are much more expensive and often more toxic. Plastic is the best we have and therefore us humans might choose it for the coming century or so.
Its amazing how things usta function back then, To me it makes more sense to reuse empty bottles of aluminium or glass instead of using tons of plastic. If anything thats what we should be doing, just pay to fill up the cup with yogurt or juice.
@@BossOfAllTrades Yeah.. sounds great. The future of packaging has to be reusable.. If everything was packaged in some hyper strong glass and returning that packaging would return a fixed amount of money.. the incentive needs to be super strong and the packaging needs to be unbreakable. Maybe metal packaging..?
I live in China and they've already started using this alternative for many plastic bags. It may be used for other solutions, though I've yet to notice that. But, when you get a "plastic" bag made of seaweed, you know it immediately, it feels much softer and thicker. It's really quite nice.
Nice so it's the opposite of those compostable potato chip bags that came out a few years ago in the USA, they made a horrible crinkling sound and were thin and hard at the same time so I almost never ate from the bag and just poured the chips into a bowl. I bought them to support the anti-plastic effort but was secretly happy the option was taken away from me when they stopped making them 😄
@@anydaynow01 Something like that, and from further looking into it, I don't think they're made out of seaweed, but another kind of land based crop. I can't quite figure out what's used as I'm working through the language barrier, still a nice alternative to thousand year, sitting in the soild/ocean plastic particles and it seems heavily pushed by the government here, so corporations can't just back out when they feel like it's cutting into their profit margins. And yes, again, the material feels REALLY nice, like a softer, higher quality plastic.
How long does it take to deact? The seaweed plastic bag! I love the idea, I hope fast food restaurants will willingly change over to brown paper bags & seaweed plastic bags, & if it could be made, 3d printed seaweed plastic forks etc.
A couple of questions came to mind as I watched the video. 1. At one point you mention seaweed plastic film being more expensive at up to $3600 / ton. For those of us not in the know, it would be nice to know the cost of traditional plastic film for comparison. 2. What is the shelf life of products packaged with the seaweed plastic? You touched on it when you mentioned the seaweed plastic sachets might break in shipping but I'm wondering about the "this plastic will break down in two months in your home compost". If product "X" is packaged in such packaging does it have to be sold more quickly or does the clock not start ticking until it is exposed to other elements such as water / heat / UV sunlight in the compost? If you answered either of those then I apologize for missing it.
He did not actually touch on any of that. I suspect it was either due to time constraints or he just didn't think of it.
Just do a quick google search and in less than 30 seconds you can figure out that the cost of traditional plastic film works out to roughly $1545 / ton. So... it's about double the cost.
$76 per ton
@@modernpirate I think some of these questions are asked so that they appear in the podcast recap of the video on one of his side channels. Edit: also thanks for googling for us. I was curious but diddnt care enough to look it up.
@@modernpirate but you need to account for the actual disposal costs of the product and damage it creates to nature so its much higher.
My students did this cool experiment this spring where they tested the pH of ocean water with algae. One sample was started at a pH of 8, the other started at a pH of 6. Within 4 days the algae had changed the pH of the water back to 8.4. Seaweed farming may just be the way to combat ocean acidification, so the more ways we can promote the growth, we might just find a way to deal with our excess CO2.
No we won't. Any biological mean of reducing co2 is only a short term victory. Once it dies and biodegrades the co2 is right back in the air. We need to pull physical carbon out of the air and store it back underground where it came from. Until we do that our co2 level will not go down. Trees pull co2 out of the air and turn it into wood, then the wood rots and degrades back into co2. Oil was underground for millions of years.
I went up to upstate New York recently where they have banned plastic bags. stores found out that going back to paper bags is far less expensive as they thought because they're not ripping those super thin plastic bags and having to triple bag everything. Some have even started to give you the paper bags rather than charge you!
I for one will be glad when we can finally get rid of styrofoam packaging. It's so annoying to deal with. It breaks apart into tiny static clinging particles. It's difficult to compact without some sort of grinder. It cannot be melted down without releasing toxic fumes. It cannot be recycled, so it just all ends up in the landfill.
Fun fact! While you're absolutely right about thermal melting, you can dissolve it down into a glue-like paste using solvents like orange oil or turpentine. It even hardens like glue. At the very least the process gets Styrofoam down into a manageable size
@@alantupper4106 Hmm I might have to look into that. If it can avoid releasing toxins and is cost effective, that may be a good solution to reduce its size.
@@alantupper4106 hey buddy, how long does the styrofoam take to set/harden? It might be fun to build some molds and pour the styrofoam in while "paste like"... I also wonder if this mixture could be useful in say 3d printing?... Totally going to play around with this reaction! Thanks dude! 😎🤙
@@bjornborn5845 Hey, from my experience it's a few hours to harden, overnight to really cure. Some carpentry folks use it as a wood glue substitute for that reason! It's probably not gonna work well for 3d printing, the dries material is likely way too brittle for FDM and you still have the devilishly small melting window for Polystyrene to struggle with. In the dissolved form, it's pretty viscous and to my knowledge it's not photocurable like a resin. Happy to be proven wrong, happy tinkering!
@@bjornborn5845 Adding on from my original reply: Mould-shaping should be possible. It would be interesting to see if a 3d printed mould could work with dissolved polystyrene.
It is absolutely amazing to see companies trying trying to hard to come up with alternatives to plastic. I hope we end up with many more options in the future.
Dear Matt, Watching your videos .. gives me HOPE for the future of humanity! Please keep it up and keep smiling :)
Yes another british channer .. just have a think gives me the same hope.
Appreciate that!
I think the biggest hurdle to plastic alternatives is Durability. I am a Commercial Cleaner and have used some of the Compositible Rubbish bags in an office, they are awful. The moment any coffee/tea leaks onto them, they begin to break down and leak all over the bins forcing me to wash 8 bins by hand. In the end, while they still get compostable bags, I buy the plastic rubbish bags with my own money.
We need plastic bags, we don't need bottled water
There should not be any liquid in a bin. This is because if you have liquids they should be in a cup that you can wash. This is following the idea we want to be really sustainable. The problem is we are not.
@@matdur2000 Is a necessity we created, 60 years back we did no have those, and people lived with no problem in that remark.
@@matdur2000 tell that to people in areas with dirty water
@@uhohhotdog bottled in plastic bottles is the problem. I don't know how it plays in the long term but why not bottle water in glass which you have to replace to get new one(like beer for example). Yes, it is a bit inconvenient for the consumer but so is the plastic in rivers. I'd rather use heavy glass bottles(which i do whenever i can) instead of plastic anywhere and maybe some stainless travel bottles. The solution is there, we just need laws to force it because people will never care as a collective unless there are fines.
It all comes back to Pollution Tax. Everyone who sells plastic in any form (packaging, utensils, you name it) must pay for disposition/recycling upfront. This way non recyclable plastics will become prohibetably expensive, but would be able to compete with all materials that Matt is mentioned. Will be more expensive for consumers 🤷♂️. But only market forces can push alternatives forward.
Excellent video as always! Hemp's also a super promising plastic alternative. Grows literally anywhere, meaning we can replace large swaths of cornfields (not all, obviously) with it in the US specifically, and having used at least hemp pseudo-plastic straws, I literally can't tell the difference until they end up being composted, even in non-ideal environments. Would love an eventual update on that branch of sustainable plastic replacements as well.
You'd have to get around the puritanical jagovs who are still holding out on legalisation in various states to make that a reality.. for hemp production to be economically viable ALL states would have to be onboard with the growth of the source crop
@@o-wolf As recent escapades in right-to-repair have proven, some of those "wonderful people" can be purchased at very low cost.
Love this KZhead channel! Every single time the content here is practical, hopeful and relevant. What you're doing is a wonderful form of activism in the way I see it! Don't stop doing your holy job you do so well!
It's very good at spotlighting good tech - sadly it's also drenched in pro-Capitalism talk, and most of this stuff will be patented, locked away for profits, and legal-pushback to DIY and other sources. So, nah, not *really* the greatest activism. It's kinda closer to greenwashing - although I do believe Matt has legitimate care about the tech, I think there's not enough criticisms of the systems building/using/making/distributing the tech, and still puts a thumbs-up to typical business workflows.
So refreshing to see that progress is being made on this issue, and that there is hope.
I have been watching your videos occasionally for quite some time now, and while I have enjoyed them, I have never felt compelled to subscribe to your channel. Having watched this video, I have decided to subscribe. Your manner of presenting a topic and developing it is, in my estimation, balanced, and when you have a bias, you are transparent and announce it. Having lived in Indonesia, and most likely moving back next summer to work on this very pressing problem of plastic waste, I couldn't skip this video. Thank you for addressing this subject, and keep up the good work.
Thank you for doing what you do Matt, this is very informative. I'm looking forward to seeing plastic alternatives in the supermarket one day soon.
I wish I could get this kind of info regarding these amazing startups in mainstream media. Even just a local news station just a local news station covering this could inspire that kid just happening to watch while eating breakfast before school in the morning. Exposure to anything and everything can be inspirational and evoke human curiosity. I remember watching the “Mind Blow” series by Vsause2 in the 5th grade, it helped me realize I wanted to pursue a career in technology. It’s this kind of coverage that helps us move toward the future imo. Love your channel and everything you do Matt!
yes, a thousand times yes ! 👏👏👏
The key to plastic is less plastic, reduce before reuse, before recycle.
Yup. Stuff like what is shown in the video will be useful, but we need to be careful to only use it for the small amount of plastic use which is left after we reduce our plastic use like crazy.
Precisely 🙋🏼♀️ I try to avoid buying plastic whenever possible.
That does not solve the problem of nano plastic in ocean and sewer dumps back to our blood now...
We need less petro plastic and more natureplastics
nano plastic getting into our food and now health system is not smart in the longrun... we cannot filter nanoplastic well at all if its in the ocean
Love your videos! Thanks!! This one specifically was great!
SO awesome!! I always feel a bit of guilt using/throwing away single use plastics, and I've always been very interested in getting into this field (sustainability/eliminating plastics/ocean cleanup) - this video has got me really excited about this again!!! This was a fantastic video that gives me a lot of hope for pushing forward the elimination of plastics. By the way, I am REALLY loving this channel so far, you explain complex topics in such a clear and concise way while still keeping it interesting. Keep up the awesome videos 👍
Great video as always Matt, I wish I took the time to comment more. I usually listen to or watch these while I'm at work, so I can't really stop to type out a comment. I've been a long time viewer and just want to say thanks for all the great work you put into topics that matter. Your videos help make the world a better place, so thank you for doing them. I would be really happy to see another video on this topic with more in-depth figures. I felt like this video came across more like an introduction to the seaweed plastic topic because it felt like it was lacking the usual, "bottom line" figures that most of your videos include. I'm not sure if that's because the information isn't widely available or not, but sad as it is: if it doesn't make cents, it doesn't make sense. So if you did another follow up video on this topic in a few months with more cost comparisons of where we're at for plastics vs where we're at for seaweed or other plastic alternatives, that would be really cool to see. I know this isn't your first video on the topic, but more awareness of the subject is better for everyone. Thanks again! :)
Remarkable 🙋🏼♀️ thank you for sharing this with us.
Abso LOVE content such as this. TY and keep up the valuable work. 👌
Matt, this was incredibly fascinating. I shop at Whole Foods and can afford to pay a little bit extra for NOT having microplastics in my body - so I am hoping a big chain like they get on board this train. I do think a hybrid approach to getting us off plastic is the only true way we'll get there. Have you ever done a video on hemp-based plastics? I remember reading about how Henry Ford had a hemp plastic-based car back in the early 1900s. I haven't been following up recently though.
@@tarstarkusz I remember when GW Bush was president, he was visiting some auto manufacturers who were building prototype electric vehicles. He specifically states, "I don't know if I will ever see one of these, but maybe my grandchildren will." ~20 years have gone by since then, and the transition to EVs is a foregone conclusion at this point. It took Tesla (and to be fair, Elon Musk) to make this impossible reality happen. Sometimes it takes incredibly rich and motivated people (Howard Hughes, Bill Gates, et al) to move the needle forward since 99% of Americans are too busy surviving to focus their energies on changing the world.
I believe hemp based paper is the reason that marijuana’s legalized was removed- a guy wasn’t very happy with losing profits and it’s been a sad downhill slope since then and all we’ve done is try to fight for it.
It's not that without Musk there would be no electric cars.. They were here before he was born. It would have taken a decade longer before the big car companies taken over the same technique
@@mr.b6789 Electric cars were around at the beginning of the 1900s, but if you think the big automakers would be rolling out EVs as fast as they can at this point had it NOT been for Tesla, you are delusional.
@@mikeshafer I really don't get why you would call me delusional, while you ignore the fact that I stated it 'would haven taken a decade longer'. But I guess it's ok, you're probably an american.
I disagree with the idea of “us” being addicted to plastics. I would wager that the majority of us, given the option, would choose a product that used less plastic. But the problem is that we don’t generally have the choice. This is one of the few things that I think can only be solved by some sort of government intervention. Most of us simply seek out the most affordable product, plastic is cheap, high sales are more appealing that lower sales, so a regulatory agency has to be the one to make the change.
? There are always much more climate sensitive products. The problem is obviously the price of those products. Plastic is the most durable and the cheapest by a longshot, nothing can compete with it. Would you pay half a dollar or a full dollar extra for climate sensitive packaging material? Answer: no. The customer cares mentally for earth, but their shopping carts tell a slightly different story. Understandable! So, the solution to resolving the plastic problem is to invent a product that is cheaper. Simple as that.
I love what you do man, I like how you always bring good things to our attention.
When you mentioned kelp, I immediately thought of kelp forests. It's good to hear that the kelp is farmed.
In college I worked with a group of students that were the first to design a PET bioreactor with the enzyme responsible. Only problem with it was the speed. It takes months to digest millimeters. The mutant variant is a little faster but not by much.
what is the shelf life of these products, that is when in use and not in use? Is there a x amount of time from production until it starts to biodegrade or is there something needed to start the process?
To biodegrade it would probably need moisture and high temperature. So in dark dry space shelf life should be similar to plastic or paper.
It would be significantly lower obviously. Last I heard, its around few long months to couple of years (2-3 years). These would be perfect for food packaging like delivery or wrapped fruit/vegetables. Water cup/bottle. Etc.
@@nntflow7058 But who wants to eat a bacteria ridden package from a storeshelf?
@@drawgam2946 You cook with wooden spoons right?
@@drawgam2946, the sanitary packaging processes would mean that the inside of the packaging is just as clean as anything else. The outside would have bacteria on it, just like any other packaging. Maybe there might be more microbes on it, due to the packaging beginning to break down, But it's probably going to be a minimal amount due to the still rather long decomposition time (A few months or years means it's breaking down very slowly).
Just purchased my discounted Native pack, thanks for the info Matt
I am so glad I started my day with this video. This is the kind of positive news I LOVE to see.
One thing to dig into when talking about plastic recycling is how they intend to handle contamination. A lot of plastic that could be recycled, isn't, because it's too difficult to get oily residues off of it, people don't know they need to wash things they chuck into the recycle bin, or people don't care to wash the things they recycle. (And one has to wonder with growing water scarcity, what does it mean for us that we have to wash things to be recycled. What's the over/under on that?) If these enzymatic or bacterial recycling systems work even with contaminated plastics, then you'd expect them to get *a lot* of attention.
You've touched on a point that has bothered me for years and years. I live in southern California, where water ain't exactly plentiful or cheap, so being berated for not washing every single container that I toss in the recycle bin to make it easier for the commercial recycling process is obnoxious as hell.
@@dionh70 Not that you can have a constructive debate with the types that would berate you for that, but 1.) in most facilities, contaminated plastics aren't washed - they're just sorted out and then sent to landfill/incinerator. 2.) A lot of recycling ends up that way anyway because it's not economically viable. Washed or not. I forget the numbers but it's something like 90% of all plastic is not recycled, and about 70% of what you put *in the recycling bin* is not recycled. IMO we need policies that put the emphasis on reduce and reuse, where the emphasis always should have been, and then the market situation for recycling doesn't have to be such a problem.
This video in particular is incredibly punny. Well done. Amazing techs that I've been keeping my eyes on, as one of my best friends was on the cutting edge of algae farming for biofuel wayy back in like 2006 while doing his chemical engineering degree. Thanks for all you do for the science industry Matt.
Every video of his is super "punny" and honestly its starting to annoy alot
Same, I love the puns. I smile at them while watching 😁.
Matt, like your videos immensely. Very informative and enjoyable to watch.
I have heard about and love notpla's seaweed pouches for a long time, so it is cool to see Matt making a video containing them
Between things like seaweed and hemp, we could replace almost every "disposable" material to be biodegradable.
We absolutely can replace all disposable material. It will cost more financially in the short term, but the long term benefits more than outweigh the costs.
@@tarstarkusz sounds like exactly the tone youd expect from someone with a russian flag as their profile pic in 2022.
With the drive to legalize Marijuana, I think Hemp would be a LOT easier to implement than it has been.
@@tarstarkusz Globalization is an essential part of a truly sustainable future, as any pitfalls in one area can be overcome by another. We either survive together, or we suffer and die divided. Becoming a bunch of Ultra-nationalist xenophobes doesn't work in a world with over 8 billion people.
@@tarstarkusz not american, dont care about the colours. the tone is dismissive. you havent run the numbers, you do not know if it can be done or if its viable. if it wasnt, there wouldnt be hundreds of attempts. be real. stop speaking out of your arse. you probably dont even have a grasp on economics nor plastic history. people could get things done in sterile environments before plastic, and if we have a suitable suite of alternatives, plastics can be banned for all but scientific and industrial pursuits, ie a ban on consumer and/or single use plastics in general.
The primary issue I've encountered with biodegradable plastics is premature decomposition. Stores generally will not want to stock plastic water bottles or sauce packets that decompose on their shelves or in transit (I imagine ketchup packets are often stuck on transport ships for months). We will need to iron out supply chain issues to make them more viable. The use of enzymes to recycle PET sounds pretty great, though :3
Thank you not only for all your diligence but also for all the punny humor throughout your videos. For some reason humor helps me to learn better
I appreciate the hard work you put into your videos. Diversifying is smart for such an overwhelming issue. I am hopeful. Keep up the great work!
So fascinating! Love the idea. Hope it takes off over time in the future and single use plastics are eventually heavily reduced. Really cool idea 👍
OHHHHHHHHH NOESSSSS ANOTHERONE!!!!! *Dances around flailing* THANK YOU GUYS!!!! MUCH LOVE FROM NORTH OF THE WALL!
Two in one week this week!
Hi Matt One of the most hopeful Video you have made, really good one 👍🙏
Thx for the vid Matt. Great info on an important topic. If we could baby step to different products in the future, it has to be a good thing. 😎✌
From what I heard, seaweed may even help our agriculture, taking the runoff nitrogen (that's there because of fertilizers) out of the water when planted in estuaries.
My solution to plastic waste has always been plain and simple, even if somewhat impractical: Barring a few exceptions - Ban the production of all plastic, period. And let's all deal with the consequences. Let the entire focus turn to using the waste we've already created and continue to create. While there's an increased push for sustainable solutions. I bet corporations will find ways to keep making money. It's absolutely insane to me that we all know the damage being caused but our attitude is: we'll solve the plastic problem... eventually. It's ridiculous. There's literally microplastics on mount Everest, in the mariana trench and in human blood. Our societies collective ignorance and arrogance towards the problem is insane.
Since I have been watching your postings I have always felt that I have learned something worthwhile, this one may be the most important yet. My concern is the timeline coupled with a lack of urgency on the part of our leaders and remember reading in the Readers Digest an article titled “Bread from the Sea” which must have been over 50 years ago and which ventilated some of your hopes and concerns.
You just made me happy. THX for the video!
Right now we already have a worldwide shortage of seaweed. I wonder how all these great initiatives contributed to that and how we expect to upscale seeweed production without having an impact on marine life. I'm excited by the new technologies but at the same time sceptical on the unforseen or unspoken impacts their production might have.
Seaweed Aquaculture
I don't think we need to harvest seaweed from nature for industrial use like this. It can be grown like algae in vats.
note: 'farms'.
I'm certain seaweed will not be a sole replacement but should be used in conjunction with other plastic replacements such as mycelium, as mentioned in this vid.
Aquaculture is the new farming revolution, what it needs is govt support, but some goons want to give all our money to Elong and Trump instead
I really like how to you give facts without the fear. You deal in hopeful improvements, while remaining realistic. Far too many environmentalists are bitter and resentful, delaying advancement toward their own goals. We need a positive vision and good technology.
Very cool Matt! Glad I found your channel.
I love you too Matt. Your channel always makes me want to hear more. You just always bring interesting things to our attention. The only thing that you could work on a little bit, is the way you talk. Sometimes I get the feeling I'm listening to one of those reading programs that sounds alright, but never gets everything quite right, so that it sounds natural. Try to get some more flow into the way you talk and pronounce certain words a little bit more. People that like you will start to love you as well.
I've always been curious about the efficacy of bamboo in place of larger plastic objects like bins and such. It grows incredibly quickly, it's flexible yet durable, and could likely be made into all kinds of shapes with the right process.
There are lots of bamboo alternatives out there but unfortunately some searching is required. They even have bamboo toothbrushes (they take a little getting use to but I love them) and other alternatives to plastic consumable items. I'm actually thinking of replacing all my food containers with bamboo/glass ones since it is naturally antimicrobial.
Yes, bamboo is one of the most underutilized natural resources in the Western world. In the East it's used for everything, but for some reason that hasn't yet spilled over into the West, but it definitely should.
When i was visiting Thailand a few years ago I noticed the humongous amount of water-hyacinths floating in large clumps in all major rivers. Perhaps those can be used too ?
Thank you for this contribution!
SUPER EXCITED ABOUT ALL THIS! HOLY AMAZINGNESS!
I would love to see seaweed recyclables available, but we need to take a multi-pronged approach and 'do it all', not just put all our resources in one answer. The same for energy, building materials, an just about all things we use both durable and non-durable materials.
What happened to the "potato starch fillm bags" that were supposed to replace plastic bags?
They decompost too fast on shelf... first gen. Second gen with better bacteria to harden will be future used
Another wonderful video! I always feel hopeful and encouraged after your videos. They are very thought provoking and enjoyable. Great topics! Thanks for all of your hard work bringing these topics to light!
Thought provoking? Which thought did it provoke for you except for: "errthang gon be alright" I think, if you would think about this topic critically you would not share the optimism of the comment section. So, keep loading up those shopping carts with plastic producs like everybody of this comment section does, including me by the way- while you dream about a green happy world outside. Then jump in your truck, drive home and use all the electrical appliances you can think of. Gosh its awesome to be totally ignorant! Right? But lets not call that thought provoking okay?
Plastic isba very important issue that needs to be addressed ASAP. Thanks for covering the subject.
Ive recently heard about dumping iron dust into the ocean to stimulate plankton growth which leads to more fish too, on top of taking CO2 out of the air in the gigatons if done in a big enough scale. I would love to see a video about it explaining the pros and cons.
I heard of that too
I watched the video too, and it was a bit disingenuous. He mentions iron oxide, but plankton need the phosphates paired with iron ore, which is rare. Copied from the comments, here are the cons: First, a simple one: when phytoplankton blooms, it does not just fix carbon, it consumes a lot of other resources present in the water. That affects other creatures. Second, when the blooms end, the decomposition of the dead plankton leads to low-oxygen zones that kill off other sea creatures. This is a big problem with the blooms that fertiliser run-off causes in streams and river deltas. Third, a practical one: many of the effects of this project would only appear after many years, as it takes very long for oceans to respond to such dramatic changes in the nutrient distribution. So it would be really hard to test the idea: small scale tests would not be representative, and limited large scale tests would be dangerous already, and take many years of extensive monitoring. Finally, plankton blooms like this would be vast, man-made events. Assuming that they would lead to restoring a natural state from before is intellectual fraud. While it's in principle possible to imagine that a bunch of plankton could just increase the existing fish stocks, in reality it is far more likely to completely change the food web, bringing more jellyfish and squid, and terminating entire fish species (especially after a low oxygen event).
? You know what happens when there is too many algae? It robes the oxigen. You want to kill all the fish, shrimps and cetaceans? Look what happens when a Fish farm has too many fish, algae blooms everywhere and a mass diyng happens...
@@imadork123 Thanks for such a detailed response! I hope this leads to people researching safer and more stable ways to stimulate ocean growth.
@@yeraycatalangaspar195 " you want to kill all the fish?" You want to stop being a asshole online? I heard about it a few hours ago then asked about its pros and cons, imadork123 replied and informed me of its cons without being a asshole. Be like him and take a few sticks out your ass and stop being someone actively making the internet shittier by sarcastically shitting on people like they are idiots.
A lot of what we learn about sustainable materials is also useful in the event we try to colonize other planets. Seaweed grows fast, captures lots of CO2, and provides great food/plastic. The perfect plant to bring to the moon or mars.
@Nicholas Time Moon's vacuum, so I'm thinking it's a good carbon scrubber
The only issue would be getting the required amount of water to grow seaweed at those places at any effective scale. When looking at current space stations, the water systems are far more circular without large enough reservoirs to allow for integrated seaweed growing.
@@rileydes2034 I thought they had found water on the moon
Good stuff Matt! Stories like this give me hope.
🙌 👏 🙏 🤝 👍 me too . . .
Thank you, this was so informative and give hope to a better cleaner future for mankind. I love your videos
Sadly, I think the plastic problem ultimately comes down to money. More viable alternatives will become available over time, but these companies won't be concerned with the environmental costs of continuing to produce millions of tons of plastic waste until they're made to pay a bigger financial cost for doing so.
The high labour costs are not a bad thing. They just mean there are good jobs in communities that might otherwise have low employment. And if the full life-cycle costs of plastics were taken into account, these seaweed-based products would probably come in cheaper. Our economic system needs to come to terms with the false economies of only considering manufacturing costs, not clean up and health costs of products.
Amazing video as always, thank you.
Thank you for your work!
Before the plastic industry convinced everyone glass was bad, we had an amazing system in the US (can't comment on anywhere else) where after drinking a beverage the glass would be put in to a rack right next to the dispenser (soda machine/storefronts/etc) and the delivery drivers would pick up the empties to return them to the bottling plant for inspection, washing, and refilling. The rejects would get smashed and sent to the bottle maker for recycling. 100% of our plastic bottles could be returned to being made of glass which is infinitely recyclable (with a few limitations based on trace elements used in specific needs formulations which can be regulated). No increase in transport costs since the stuff is getting delivered anyway. With careful application of green power the recycling is carbon neutral. A glass bottle gets thrown out by mistake? No worries, in a few centuries it's back to being the sand it came from if outside. If in a landfill it could be mined when we start tapping into those for energy (methane production). We use glass for our plasticware storage needs at home. So no plastic there. Glass is amazing. Use more glass!
Glass is really good. It’s just more expensive. Good luck convincing investors that you need to spend more money, just to avoid overcommitting to a rapidly depleting resource that’s currently killing us all. It’s not like they’re kicking themselves in the teeth down the line when petroleum supplies dry up or anything. Short term profits aren’t affected by things that happen five or six years from now…
There isn't remotely enough raw material available to switch to glass. We're using it in other industries already and already hitting limitations. And a lot more energy, not to mention fresh water and cleaning chemicals, go into glass, and go into the environment from glass. The only part of that helped by recyclability is the lack of durable waste afterward...which is problematic since only 5% of consumer glass gets recycled. What made returning bottles viable in the time you're thinking of but clearly did not live in was that they were FAR more expensive so it was cost effective to pay someone to collect them. And we do not have EV collection trucks yet on the market, so you're proposing a new diesel truck going around collecting these glass bottles with sufficient waste space in it to carefully protect these glass bottles to take them to be cleaned. And, no, the plastic industry didn't convince anyone glass was bad. They made plastic cheaper. A LOT cheaper. What they conned people about was that it was recyclable instead of merely downcyclable. Glass cannot scale to the current population even in a best case scenario where everyone is responsible. And as we've seen time and time again, far too many of us are not responsible.
@@Merennulli it’s almost like building an economy based on maximizing waste for short term profit manufactured an artificial demand for goods far beyond the actual need for them, resulting in unsustainable consumption rates that can’t be corrected quickly. 🤔
@@bridgetshepherd5202 While the economy being driven by shortsighted product pushing is enormously wasteful, even going down to bare essentials glass wouldn't cut it. Even with the vast majority of packaging that would otherwise be glass having long since gone to plastic and with glass so easily recycled, we've had a sand shortage of the grade suitable for glass since 2015. You can argue we don't need cell phones designed to be obsolete before we even peel the shipping label off them, but realistically that rapid cycling is actually a vital part of our infrastructure whether it's sustainable or not. We need to design better materials recovery, not halt the technology cycling. I do get that it would be better if everything wasn't designed for the sole purpose of extracting money as rapidly as possible from a population that can't sustain it using resources we can't sustain. Those things do increase the speed of the problem, but ultimately they aren't the cause of it. There are too many of us and we want things like healthcare, rights, and a better standard of living and it takes more to get those things than even the most greedy, worthless and careless corporations manage to use. And, to be blunt, even if it were just greed causing all the problems...we've not fixed green in the 6000 years we have written records of. We're not going to fix greed in time to prevent disaster. We need to focus on technologies, both old and new, that can work within our greed-saturated mess of a society. And not carelessly like the "let's ban plastic straws" nutters who thought it would be cool to harass disabled people who needed them thanks to a bizarrely well connected 9 year old fudging numbers about them.
Besides what other commenters said about your suggestion to use more glass I wanted to add that recycling glass is extremely energy intensive. It also requires very advanced sorting mechanisms that should start from the customer (recycling your own glass product waste into 3-5 different types) this separation needs to be maintained by the waste collector, waste storage and eventual recycling factory. Sounds expensive right? Well, that's because it is! (on top of the aforementioned energy intensiveness of glass recycling). Let's just say theres a reason plastic is "rather" popular worldwide.
I love these ideas, I am also curious to know what destruction this will cause many years from now. Everything we've made has always been for the greater good, until it isn't.
None of these pollutants have ever been for the greater good.. they were for commerce & convenience.. what can we make for cheap dthat will yield the most profit AKA capitalism. with zero foresight or thought put into the after effects or consequences.. these methods are taking all those things into consideration like we should've done the first time round
Great video. Love the focus on solutions to the plastic problem.
Thank you for presenting such a balanced and nuanced opinion on these technologies. Very insightful.
It never fails to amaze me that "we" always look for "less polluting" ways to do x, y, z. That is just fundamentally the wrong approach. Plastic should not be used for packaging ever. It should never be used for a single-use item ever. The proper approach to this would be alternatives - paper, glass and metal - infinitely recyclable. Pay a deposit for package like a bottle and get it back when you return it. Problems solved.
one more thought - plastic should cost FAR more than alternatives - and likely will soon - due to oil/gas prices. Recycling plastic was never profitable nor clean nor successful.
One of the biggest issues I see with "biodegradable" plastics, is that one of the greatest reasons why plastic is used so widely is precisely because it doesn't break down! If the package your ready meal is stored in starts to break down, it will become unsealed and open to the environment, thus allowing your food to expire. Many parts of your car are made from plastic, if you replaced those components with something organisms can break down, your car wont last long at all. I think a far more sustainable and complete solution to the waste plastic problem, is burning it.
but its nano size now and in the ocean and fish we repopulate for food back to us.. what dont you get joe?
also...henry ford hemp car was more durable than petro based plastic
I think the main goal should be reducing the usage of these overkill durable plastics as single use packaging
@@MattSitton i rather use two straws of bamboo than have a plastic forever one
All you need is the plastic to bread down in 10-20 years instead of 100-1000 years. Keep in mind that 10-20 years would be after it is shredded down into small pellets which degrade faster than large plastic pieces
Great topic Matt, really interesting!
YES - Love the ideas you show in this video. AND YES please get hose seaweed straws on the market, i HATE those paper straws that all companies use atm! thank you for yet another great video :D
I don't understand. We are ALL already eating plastic, what makes this different?
its natural and doesnt cause cell deformation and dna damage
Plastic obsession or packaged stuff being forced on consumers by out of control packaging engineers. As I age opening plastic packaging has become a life threatening ordeal. I need "tools," to open them! I largely blame packaging engineers and corporate numbskulls for making stupid decisions. Our government packaging mandates need to be "modified."
Absolutely. As I see single use plastics being banned still no one mentions the biggest problem single use packaging. I might use a plastic straw 1 or 2 times a week. I Use 10 single use plastic packaged items a day. I need to do better myself but damn it's really convenient and hard to break the cycle
No, it's your fault for buying products with plastic.
@@tmcche7881 ok then go find me peanut butter sandwich crackers that aren't packaged in plastic
@@isaacfulton7731 Do you really buy pre-made, individually packaged pb&j sandwiches? RECIPE Ingredients: Buy a loaf of bread at bakery, in a paper bag. Buy jam in a glass container Buy peanut butter in a glass container. Instructions: Take a butter knife, paint one slice of bread with jelly, paint another slice with peanut butter, place the coated slices of bread together. Preferably with both the peanut butter and jelly on the inside of the sandwich. Place in paper bag, take to school for lunch. Chef's note: for pb&j crackers, buy crackers in cardboard box, wrapped in beeswax paper, substitute bread with crackers.
@@tmcche7881 no. The crackers with just peanut better.
Got it. Thanks for the great info. Be well.
Fascinating 😊 I know Eco design is necessary, and there is people who are dedicating their lives to develop stuff like this. So good
Amazing Stuff as always.
Would enjoy a video of you explaining how you research all this interesting info
I like the sponsor, but my mom has been making our own soap, and deodorant for years now. and I love the idea of the pouches for marathoners, not just that ketchup packets and on! 6:31
Thank you. Keep up the work.
Sadly I'm not on what's app, my MS limits my computer usage.
I watched a few of your videos and loved them. Your video topics match the things I think of every day, so many times a day. I realized I wasn't subscribed, so I went ahead and did that; you deserve many more than 1 million subs imo. I'm a systems engineer specialized in mechatronics, with project management and technical experience in most engineering disciplines. I also love other recommenced, and talking about different things, tech, and big picture, and explaining it so everyone can easily understand. Right now I'm working in industrial telematics/ IIoT, to increase construction industry efficiencies many times over. If I get the rest of my short list together, I am inspired to start making small videos. I will reach out via the link when ready. I can video edit, and learn any other technical and communication skills, and have a battleship PC, connection and storage. Thanks for your initiative, time, and energy you put into this! Great work! Accessible knowledge is so important nowadays, especially for the younger generation that was born with a for-granted smartphone stuck to their butts. :)
Also it's still surreal that we wrap random things in one of the most durable materials ever made.. I literally opened a package of 10 slices of ham and it was wrapped in plastic. I was upset I picked it up without even thinking. We definitely need culture change too. In Canada single use plastics are getting banned, recycling rates are improving, but not a ton of visibility on it. Grocery stores also started switching to paper bags and selling cloth bags on demand. It's an awesome initiative. Now everyone has to do that as step 1. Plastic is amazing, and super useful, but should be treated with more responsibility. If micro plastics were even found in human blood and all throughout the animal kingdom, including in alarming amounts in the ocean, it must be a serious issue that every person should consider. There will always be individuals that are detractors, with a splash of "I don't care" attitude, but establishing the culture first usually brings most of those around too. This is akin to smoking in a restaurant, littering on roads/public spaces, or racism. Laws and culture shifts mostly eliminated those, with some unfortunate exceptions.
I love this channel. I learn so much from it
Your videos are great, you deserve success.
Fascinating! Thank you.
I love these alternative solutions but the biggest step we can take to be sustainable is to buy less and use less stuff all in all.
Amazing video. I hope that applications of seaweed in the food industry also blooms.
I love all of this and hope it scales exponentially in my lifetime
Unreleated to the video, but related to the sponsor, i've been using Native deodorant for allergy reasons for a little bit and didn't know they had plastic free packaging options. That's super neat. Thanks for the heads up!
Awesome, fair and balanced questions and reasoning.
Thank you, that was awesome.
I love this video Matt :).. From my experience we can and do recycle PET and all sorts of other plastics.. the problem is people don't want to, or don't have a reason to recycle and just toss their plastic into the bin, which means it doesn't get recycled.. I think we need micro plastic manufacturing to show people they can make use of their plastic AND really absorb all the plastic before it goes into the environment.
Fascinated by the alternatives that are being developed. Keep this stuff coming. When I win the lottery, I want to invest somewhere(s).
The example applications you listed in this video are way more practical than any I'd previously seen regarding algae as a plastic substitute. Most of the ones I'd heard about just combined the algae with plastic (defeating the purpose imo). Some of these though, seem really cool - especially the seaweed water/sauce/ketchup packets. 😀
Thanks for this video, regarding the large amounts of industrial and agricultural plastic waste all of which wasn't covered in your video, what products are coming to market to help deal with those?
It's utterly crazy that we are finding micro plastics in our own bodies and blood, lungs, and apparently it can trick our body that they are hormone disrupters. I personally just was diagnosed with a endocrine system disorder and am starting to see a endocrinologist, i just can't help but hypothetically think about if any thing has effected things overtime because this is something that seemed like it didn't occur with my health until my mid late 20's when i was starting my 30s.
really appreciate the deodorant referral! I'll try it.