00:00:03
foreign
00:00:11
whether we realize it or not
00:00:15
this is the worst it's ever been experts
00:00:18
call it a global threat we've revealed
00:00:21
it was stockpiling plastic the public
00:00:23
thought was being recycled the bad news
00:00:26
is plastic production is spiraling all
00:00:28
over the globe while only nine percent
00:00:30
is being recycled we've got a
00:00:37
hearing it sufficiently we haven't got
00:00:40
good recycling at the moment we've got
00:00:42
to do better
00:00:50
from the smallest phone in your pocket
00:00:53
to the largest container ships
00:00:54
traversing our oceans plastic is
00:00:57
ubiquitous versatile and destructive
00:01:00
while this synthetic material has become
00:01:02
an essential part of our daily lives its
00:01:05
overuse is causing a lot of harm
00:01:08
plastic pollutes our oceans harms
00:01:10
Wildlife contaminates our food supply
00:01:12
and overcrowds landfills
00:01:15
from 1950 to 2017 the United Nations
00:01:18
environmental program or unep estimated
00:01:22
that over 7 billion tons of plastic
00:01:24
waste was produced globally
00:01:26
according to the world economic Forum
00:01:28
over 400 million tons is produced every
00:01:31
year the United Nations environmental
00:01:33
program also reported that each year 85
00:01:36
percent of plastic waste ends up in
00:01:38
landfills the international Union for
00:01:40
conservation of nature reported that
00:01:42
each year 14 million tons enters our
00:01:44
oceans
00:01:46
the blame for this waste cannot be
00:01:48
attributed to a diffused group of
00:01:49
individuals but to a small group of
00:01:51
Corporations
00:01:52
according to the plastic waste makers
00:01:54
index only 20 companies are responsible
00:01:57
for over half of the world's disposable
00:01:58
plastic waste
00:02:00
there are plenty of ways tech companies
00:02:02
can cut down on plastic we'll highlight
00:02:04
four of them there are practical steps
00:02:07
to making a Greener future without
00:02:08
trading away the entire way we build and
00:02:11
sell products and Tech leaders are
00:02:13
starting to see that measuring and
00:02:14
reducing their company's environmental
00:02:16
impact
00:02:17
can have benefits too improving
00:02:20
efficiency and the company's reputation
00:02:22
join me Justin fraction as we hear from
00:02:25
industry experts explore steps being
00:02:27
taken by industry leaders such as
00:02:29
Microsoft and Dell and examine the
00:02:31
actions being pursued by governments
00:02:33
around the world to address this
00:02:34
pressing issue
00:02:36
of tech impact
00:02:47
many standards bodies have already set
00:02:49
templates for building sustainability
00:02:51
goals after all the first step to
00:02:53
solving the problem is to make a plan
00:02:55
for example the electronic product
00:02:58
environmental assessment tool or epd and
00:03:00
the global reporting initiative
00:03:02
standards have detailed wide-ranging
00:03:04
environmental and sustainability
00:03:05
benchmarks these vary widely depending
00:03:08
on industry
00:03:09
gri for example takes into account
00:03:12
energy use the rights of indigenous
00:03:14
people biodiversity waste and more
00:03:17
focusing back on Plastics sometimes
00:03:20
matters of jurisdiction get complicated
00:03:22
after all the person who made to a
00:03:25
sustainability audit on the cafeteria is
00:03:27
often not also visiting the factory Mike
00:03:29
zamis Chief product officer at ESG
00:03:32
platform and consultancy sphera advised
00:03:35
that companies need to be sure their ESG
00:03:37
measures are repeatable measurable
00:03:39
transparent and auditable for instance
00:03:41
Dell set itself several in-house
00:03:43
long-term goals regarding environmental
00:03:46
social and corporate governance or ESG
00:03:48
for short
00:03:49
zero carbon emissions by 2050 was one of
00:03:52
many along with having 100 of their
00:03:54
packaging fifty percent of their
00:03:55
products made from renewable recyclable
00:03:57
materials marks their shorter term goal
00:04:00
out to 2030.
00:04:01
they're also working with next wave an
00:04:03
organization focused on keeping plastic
00:04:05
out of waterways after all Dell Global
00:04:08
product manager sustainability
00:04:09
strategist Katie green said materials
00:04:12
fished out of the ocean have been broken
00:04:13
down by salt and sun and can't be used
00:04:16
electing ocean-bound plastic before hits
00:04:18
the water means more material is
00:04:20
available to put back into the economy
00:04:22
therefore Dell tries to make recyclable
00:04:25
ability into their design from the
00:04:26
beginning
00:04:27
but would have done latitude's 5000
00:04:29
laptop is 21 bioplastic this plastic
00:04:32
comes from tall oil a byproduct from the
00:04:35
paper making process another 20 is
00:04:38
reclaimed carbon fiber from the
00:04:39
Aerospace industry
00:04:41
moving Plastics around between
00:04:42
Industries like this lengthens their
00:04:44
useful lives that in turn contributes to
00:04:47
early efforts to create a circular
00:04:49
economy
00:04:50
in this economic structure many products
00:04:52
and materials are recycled refurbished
00:04:54
or repaired in order to get as much use
00:04:56
out of each as possible
00:05:01
about keeping plastic in use longer how
00:05:04
about cutting plastic from products
00:05:06
entirely
00:05:07
many companies start out their journey
00:05:09
into reducing plastic in their packaging
00:05:11
before moving on to electronics products
00:05:13
themselves
00:05:14
green also detailed a project to
00:05:16
eliminate plastic bags from packaged
00:05:18
adapters originally Dell's adapters
00:05:21
would come Bots with one plastic bag on
00:05:23
the power cord and one on the adapter
00:05:25
itself now they use paper Banning around
00:05:27
both
00:05:28
it took a lot of trial and error when
00:05:30
it's still an ongoing project
00:05:32
some early drafts of this design use
00:05:34
rubber or paper integrated into the box
00:05:36
itself
00:05:37
paper Banning was chosen so that the
00:05:39
final product to withstand scratches and
00:05:41
scuffing after all protecting the
00:05:43
adapter is the main purpose of the
00:05:45
packaging
00:05:46
in order to make the change down first
00:05:48
approached their existing list of
00:05:50
packaging suppliers and asked them what
00:05:52
was available afterward they reached out
00:05:54
to new suppliers looking for those doing
00:05:56
Innovative work in sustainable packaging
00:05:58
specifically
00:06:00
green says this process helped to drive
00:06:02
Dell suppliers to think outside of the
00:06:04
box
00:06:05
the company needed to look at their sub
00:06:07
suppliers too to be sure ESG standards
00:06:09
were met down the line this drives
00:06:11
excitement and interest in sustainable
00:06:13
packaging across the chain and opens up
00:06:15
new business she said overall the change
00:06:18
was not as difficult as the Dell
00:06:20
designers expected with a lot of options
00:06:23
for example Microsoft's Aspire Bureau
00:06:26
laptop uses 30 recycled plastic and the
00:06:28
chassis and 50 recycled plastic on the
00:06:31
keyboard caps they also don't use any
00:06:34
paint on this laptop mine at all this
00:06:36
reduces the chance for to produce
00:06:37
volatile organic compounds which can
00:06:40
vaporize into the air as pollution
00:06:42
the regulated by the United States Clean
00:06:44
Air Act because they can dissipate into
00:06:46
the air from the device steering
00:06:48
manufacture or destruction
00:06:50
meanwhile Apple aspires to stop using
00:06:53
Plastics and packaging completely by
00:06:55
2025 other materials commonly used for
00:06:58
everyday life can be recycled as the
00:07:00
simmer products too
00:07:01
Samsung recently started using recycled
00:07:03
Plastics and discarded fishing nets
00:07:05
throughout their product lines
00:07:10
welcome to the ReUse part of reduce
00:07:13
reuse recycle another way to cut down on
00:07:16
Plastics is to not have to make new
00:07:18
packaging at all zamis recommends an
00:07:21
attempt to return to the Milkman method
00:07:23
where customers return empty milk
00:07:25
bottles to be filled again it's all
00:07:27
about making recycling easier incentives
00:07:30
like putting a return field at bottle or
00:07:32
making the products more robust could
00:07:34
help eliminate the need for new products
00:07:36
too
00:07:37
most Plastic Products are built with an
00:07:39
intended life of one year or less but
00:07:41
the chemicals last forever
00:07:43
they're a victim of their own success
00:07:45
zamis said
00:07:48
that one year lifespan can get in the
00:07:51
way of attempts to reuse plastic part of
00:07:53
the challenge green points out is
00:07:55
getting the same material properties as
00:07:57
first run plastic post-consumer recycled
00:08:00
plastic can vary in quality a lot based
00:08:02
on its origin customers have certain
00:08:04
assumptions about material properties
00:08:06
screen set one does expect a laptop to
00:08:09
be durable after all it also needs to
00:08:11
meet specific durability standards for
00:08:13
manufacturing these limit how much of a
00:08:16
plastic mix can be bio-based or
00:08:17
post-consumer one reliably similar
00:08:20
source is CD disk cases which are no
00:08:23
longer in demand but were produced in
00:08:24
huge amounts post-industrial or
00:08:27
pre-consumer plastic like industrial
00:08:29
scrap should also be part of the
00:08:30
conversation
00:08:31
these can be used across Industries
00:08:37
[Music]
00:08:47
thank you
00:08:48
despite all the solutions and methods
00:08:50
these tech companies have developed to
00:08:52
tackle the plastic problem all still
00:08:54
face a lot of challenges in turning
00:08:56
sustainability from a dream into a
00:08:57
practical plan plus regulations in this
00:09:00
area can change rapidly the United
00:09:02
Kingdom put a plastic tax in effect in
00:09:04
2022 which penalizes any plastic product
00:09:07
manufactured in or imported into the UK
00:09:10
that does not contain at least 30
00:09:11
percent recycled plastic the U.S
00:09:14
department of the Interior issued an
00:09:15
order in 2022 Banning single-use
00:09:18
Plastics on Department managed lands by
00:09:20
2032. California are the same level to
00:09:23
reduce single-use Plastics over time to
00:09:26
sell the idea to Executive teams of
00:09:28
other influential technology companies
00:09:29
phasing out single-use Plastics may need
00:09:32
to be framed as innovation
00:09:34
the first company which figures out how
00:09:36
to swap out Electronics like milk
00:09:37
bottles and grab a key segment of
00:09:39
customers invested in reducing their
00:09:40
consumption while still having the
00:09:42
newest model ultimately we reduce spark
00:09:46
of reduced reuse or recycle may prove to
00:09:48
be the greatest challenge but efforts
00:09:50
like these show that it's part of a
00:09:51
serious conversation happening at the
00:09:53
Enterprise level today
00:09:55
thanks for watching this is a new series
00:09:58
my team and I are producing so please
00:10:00
let us know your thoughts in the
00:10:01
comments below we plant the post-tech
00:10:03
impact videos once a month so be sure to
00:10:05
be on the lookout for more in the future
00:10:06
in the meantime you can learn more about
00:10:08
all the topics we discuss here on the
00:10:10
channel at techrepublic.com
00:10:12
until next time