[MUSIC PLAYING]

CARL AZUZ: I think, therefore, Fridays are awesome.

Who would disagree with that philosophy?

I'm Carl Azuz.

This is CNN 10.

The US President's annual State of the Union speech

has been called off for now, and the reason

concerns the political fight taking

place over the government's partial shutdown.

Here's what happened.

On January 3, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

invited President Donald Trump to give

his annual address in the US House of Representatives

in late January.

But on January 16, the speaker recommended that the president

postpone the speech or send it in a letter

until the partial government shutdown was over.

On Wednesday, President Trump said

he was moving ahead with plans to give

the speech in the House.

Speaker Pelosi responded that the House would not

authorize it to take place until the government

had completely reopened.

And though the president initially

suggested that his administration would find

another place for the speech, he said Wednesday night

that it would be postponed because no venue

can compete with the importance of the House chamber.

Democrats and Republicans continue

to blame each other for the shutdown and the postponement

of the speech.

But one thing that's interesting is what the Constitution

says about the address.

"The president shall, from time to time,

give to the Congress information of the state of the Union."

It doesn't say it has to be every year.

It doesn't say it has to be in a joint session of Congress

in the House.

So what the two sides are arguing about

is the tradition that Democratic and Republican presidents have

observed throughout the years but not

a constitutional obligation.

10 Second Trivia.

Which of these animals is not featured

on the Chinese zodiac--

an astrological calendar cycle?

Ox, bear, pig, or rooster?

[BEEPING SECOND CLOCK]

The animals that repeat every 12 years in the Chinese zodiac

do not include a bear.

But they do include the pig.

And February 5 is when the Year of the Pig begins.

It's also year 4717 on the Chinese calendar.

The Lunar New Year is a massive celebration for China.

People travel hundreds of thousands of miles

to be with their families.

And because the country's population is nearly 1 billion

400,000, the holiday triggers what's known as the largest

annual human migration.

- 2019 maybe the Year of the Pig,

but like every Lunar New Year, it's also the year of the crush

during a 40-day period leading up

to and after the lunar holiday.

And the rush is already underway.

More than 400 million Chinese holiday

travelers will take the train.

Over the 15 days of the festival itself, from February 5

to February 19, rail authorities are

bracing for a near 9% increase on last year's numbers.

That works out at more than 9 and 1/2

million passengers a day.

Some 73 million people are expected to choose air travel.

That means there will be about 15,600 planes in the sky

every day of the holiday.

But the road remains the most popular

way of traveling, mostly by bus during the Lunar

New Year period.

A more enjoyable holiday tradition

is the Zigong Lantern Festival which runs until March 1.

Some of the lanterns are up to 22 meters tall.

It's a blaze of color and imagination

with birds, fish, and, of course, pigs

lighting up the dark winter nights.

The festival dates from the Tang Dynasty around 618 AD.

CARL AZUZ: Back in the day, and by that we mean the 1950s,

many people used to have milk delivered to their homes.

It arrived in glass bottles that they'd return to the milkman.

And the reason that went away is because new production methods

extended milk's shelf life, and it

became less expensive and more convenient to just

pick it up at the store.

But the delivery model may be making a comeback

helped by a company that aims to be

more environmentally friendly.

TOM SZAKY: Once you've finished drinking your coffee

from your disposable coffee cup, do you cherish that coffee

cup for many years to come?

Absolutely not.

Recycling is dealing with the symptom of waste

but not the root cause of waste.

We have to turn off the tap.

- Don't create the waste in the first place.

That's the idea behind a new project from some

of the world's biggest brands.

It's called Loop.

TOM SZAKY: Loop is effectively a reboot of the milkman

but in a very, very modern way.

- With Loop, when you shop online for Haagen-Dazs ice

cream, Dove deodorant, or one of the other 300 or so available

products, they'll be delivered to your door

in a new durable packaging inside

a reusable shipping tote.

They'll cost about the same as the ones you'd buy in a store,

but you'll pay a refundable deposit for the container.

TOM SZAKY: And then when you're empty, without any cleaning,

just like a disposable experience,

you throw it back into your Loop bin.

- And instead of going to the landfill a recycling plant,

Loop products will be picked up, cleaned, refilled,

and ultimately reused by another customer.

TOM SZAKY: That moves from being disposable to reusable,

which is a huge upgrade for the environment.

- Of the 34.5 million tons of plastic waste created in the US

in 2015, less than 10% was recycled.

So Szaky sent out some of the biggest

purveyors of plastic packaging.

His pitch?

The plastic problem is serious, and you're contributing to it,

but here is a way to help.

KIM PEDDLE-RGUEM: As we think forward to the future,

we know consumers will demand more recyclable products,

more reusable products.

- Nestle decided to launch on Loop with five flavors

of its Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

KIM PEDDLE-RGUEM: Product Loop is

a way for us to tip our toe into this territory

and really learn a lot.

- To do that, teams had to completely

reimagine the traditional pint made of coated paper.

KIM PEDDLE-RGUEM: We have designed the package itself

with stainless steel which allows it to keep

the product cold much longer than a regular ice

cream package would.

- In London, Unilever's design team is

working on their own redesign.

To bring Axe, Degree, and Dove deodorants to Loop,

they created a sleek stainless steel capsule.

AUGUSTO GARZON: We didn't compromise on beauty

and experience, but we wanted to make

sure that you're doing a fantastic action to the planet.

- In May 2019, Loop will launch in just New York and Paris

with only several thousand customers in each city.

TOM SZAKY: In 2019, Loop does not make good business sense

for the partners because it's at low scale,

and they will likely lose money on every transaction

in that year.

KIM PEDDLE-RGUEM: This is an investment for us.

We're not that far, but we're going

to learn a lot from the test.

- An even bigger problem was starting small.

Loop requires a ton of shipping.

Haagen-Dazs ice cream ordered by a New Yorker

will start in Bakersfield, California,

then be trucked across the country, stored in Maryland,

packed in New Jersey, all before ultimately

being delivered by UPS.

Once the customer's done, that container

travels back the way it came.

All that transportation adds up to a big environmental cost.

TOM SZAKY: There's absolutely an impact of reuse, which

is shipping the empties and cleaning them,

but if you compare that to the impact of making new packaging,

reuse becomes somewhere between 50% and 75% better

for the environment.

- But the most important question

remains, will consumers be willing to give up

the plastic lifestyle to get on board?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CARL AZUZ: A man in Iowa recently won the lottery.

Well, not the jackpot.

He won a $1 on a scratch-off ticket.

But he went to the state lottery headquarters

and asked for the big-prize treatment.

And after a laugh, they gave it to him,

printing up a big old check with the prize listed

and making him feel like a million

bucks if not the winner of it.

He then went and blew it all in one place.

He bought a half gallon of gasoline.

Well, many lottery winners move.

He was able to move about 10 to 15 miles depending on his car.

It might not be a jackpot of gold,

but it was probably worth the grand prize of admission.

And you've got to credit him with keeping it Lotto real.

If we had $1 for every time we covered a story like that, it

might not be a lottery, but it'd be the same

as that lottery winner.

I'm Carl Azuz.

CNN 10 hopes you have a great weekend.

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