[Applause]
plastic is bad a statement we’ve all
heard and somewhat agreed with or maybe
you didn’t however the extent to which
plastic is bad is what many of us don’t
quite comprehend yet I started learning
about the effect of plastic and
pollution last year in my biology class
we learned how plastic breaks down into
micro plastics and all these often get
eaten by small organisms which we then
in term consume my whole class knew we
were producing too much plastic waste
especially in the course of a school
year and we would get our takeaway
coffees and plastic cups and wrap our
food and plastic and buy endless things
that came in a plastic container so my
biology teacher said as a challenge to
go as long as we could without producing
any plastic waste and it sounds strange
doesn’t it a life without plastic if you
think about it the very first thing we
put into our mouths every morning is
made out of plastic a toothbrush now
let’s have a little fun fact about
toothbrushes did you know that the
toothbrushes which you used when you
were just a child are very probably
still intact and affecting our
environment right now unfortunately
plastic toothbrushes are the second
largest source of plastic waste
worldwide
this is especially aggravating if you
think about how many different options
we have there’s things like bamboo
toothbrushes I mean they have bristles
made out of charcoal and wasn’t there
this huge trend about activated charcoal
teeth whitening creams or pastes during
the course of the year we produce 300
million tons of plastic 5 million of
which end up in our oceans now there was
an estimation made that by 2050 there
will be more plastic by weight than fish
in these and that kind of destroyed how
I viewed the way which we passed it so I
was determined to try out this challenge
to get rid of plastic and not use it at
all truth be told in the beginning I
didn’t want to get rid of hard and
durable plastics because they
we’re already in my house and they could
last me months if not years rather I
wanted to change the way I viewed
plastic overall and whether I actually
made a choice when somebody offered me
do you want the plastic bag with this
my first challenge came in Italy where
over the summer it is extremely hot and
what better remedy for the heat the ice
cream but how was I supposed to get ice
cream without plastic whether it’s a
little plastic spoon or the paper cups
lined with plastic I wasn’t going to
forfeit my challenge on the very first
day of my summer holidays so I spoke to
my family and easily enough we found a
solution
we bought a 1 kilogram tray of ice cream
and stuck it in the freezer I mean it’s
a win-win situation
I am managed to not produce any plastic
waste and I have a kilogram of ice cream
in my freezer now alright the tray is
still made out of polystyrene which is
in fact plastic but it lasted us the
entire summer and we will continue to
use it until it breaks down completely
with time my family and I also began
shopping more often at the local farmers
market we’re close to nothing has ever
wrapped in plastic especially if you
bring your own bag we also started
bringing our own egg boxes and glass
canisters to fill with milk in case we
needed a refill
soon I also realized how easy it was to
make certain products at home I’m
talking things like shampoos toothpastes
lip balm body lotion we can make all of
those at home and plastic free and an
important thing that I have to say about
this is that if we make our products at
home we’re not only sparing the plastic
which goes into the container which
holds our product but also the harmful
chemicals which go into the product
itself with a quick Pinterest search I
learned how to make my own laundry
detergent and that dryer sheets could
just consists of two scrunched up and
felted balls of yarn having seen how
easy it is to make these things at home
I began to wonder why so many people
still choose the over processed and
plastic equivalents and then I thought
maybe people don’t know obvious
to make these things at home so I want
to challenge all of you to go home and
make one plastic free product I’ll even
give you a head start if we’re really
easy to remember it even easier to make
recipe a staple that everybody has in
their bathroom body lotion now it’s easy
for ingredients and you melt them
together cocoa butter shea butter
coconut oil and sweet almond oil and
honestly this smells like heaven
especially if heaven smells like
chocolate to you for now I have reduced
the amount of classes that I use and I
believe that I’ve made a difference
and I would like to ask you to do the
same look into your trash can at the end
of the day and look at how much plastic
you produce and tell me if you wouldn’t
want to change it thank you [Applause]
plastic is bad a statement we’ve all
heard and somewhat agreed with or maybe
you didn’t however the extent to which
plastic is bad is what many of us don’t
quite comprehend yet I started learning
about the effect of plastic and
pollution last year in my biology class
we learned how plastic breaks down into
micro plastics and all these often get
eaten by small organisms which we then
in term consume my whole class knew we
were producing too much plastic waste
especially in the course of a school
year and we would get our takeaway
coffees and plastic cups and wrap our
food and plastic and buy endless things
that came in a plastic container so my
biology teacher said as a challenge to
go as long as we could without producing
any plastic waste and it sounds strange
doesn’t it a life without plastic if you
think about it the very first thing we
put into our mouths every morning is
made out of plastic a toothbrush now
let’s have a little fun fact about
toothbrushes did you know that the
toothbrushes which you used when you
were just a child are very probably
still intact and affecting our
environment right now unfortunately
plastic toothbrushes are the second
largest source of plastic waste
worldwide
this is especially aggravating if you
think about how many different options
we have there’s things like bamboo
toothbrushes I mean they have bristles
made out of charcoal and wasn’t there
this huge trend about activated charcoal
teeth whitening creams or pastes during
the course of the year we produce 300
million tons of plastic 5 million of
which end up in our oceans now there was
an estimation made that by 2050 there
will be more plastic by weight than fish
in these and that kind of destroyed how
I viewed the way which we passed it so I
was determined to try out this challenge
to get rid of plastic and not use it at
all truth be told in the beginning I
didn’t want to get rid of hard and
durable plastics because they
we’re already in my house and they could
last me months if not years rather I
wanted to change the way I viewed
plastic overall and whether I actually
made a choice when somebody offered me
do you want the plastic bag with this
my first challenge came in Italy where
over the summer it is extremely hot and
what better remedy for the heat the ice
cream but how was I supposed to get ice
cream without plastic whether it’s a
little plastic spoon or the paper cups
lined with plastic I wasn’t going to
forfeit my challenge on the very first
day of my summer holidays so I spoke to
my family and easily enough we found a
solution
we bought a 1 kilogram tray of ice cream
and stuck it in the freezer I mean it’s
a win-win situation
I am managed to not produce any plastic
waste and I have a kilogram of ice cream
in my freezer now alright the tray is
still made out of polystyrene which is
in fact plastic but it lasted us the
entire summer and we will continue to
use it until it breaks down completely
with time my family and I also began
shopping more often at the local farmers
market we’re close to nothing has ever
wrapped in plastic especially if you
bring your own bag we also started
bringing our own egg boxes and glass
canisters to fill with milk in case we
needed a refill
soon I also realized how easy it was to
make certain products at home I’m
talking things like shampoos toothpastes
lip balm body lotion we can make all of
those at home and plastic free and an
important thing that I have to say about
this is that if we make our products at
home we’re not only sparing the plastic
which goes into the container which
holds our product but also the harmful
chemicals which go into the product
itself with a quick Pinterest search I
learned how to make my own laundry
detergent and that dryer sheets could
just consists of two scrunched up and
felted balls of yarn having seen how
easy it is to make these things at home
I began to wonder why so many people
still choose the over processed and
plastic equivalents and then I thought
maybe people don’t know obvious
to make these things at home so I want
to challenge all of you to go home and
make one plastic free product I’ll even
give you a head start if we’re really
easy to remember it even easier to make
recipe a staple that everybody has in
their bathroom body lotion now it’s easy
for ingredients and you melt them
together cocoa butter shea butter
coconut oil and sweet almond oil and
honestly this smells like heaven
especially if heaven smells like
chocolate to you for now I have reduced
the amount of classes that I use and I
believe that I’ve made a difference
and I would like to ask you to do the
same look into your trash can at the end
of the day and look at how much plastic
you produce and tell me if you wouldn’t
want to change it thank you [Applause]
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