The process that makes this possible takes place in a high-tech lab.

這個產品的創造過程是在一個高科技的實驗室裡進行的，

But the raw materials come from seaweed farms.

但原材料來自海藻養殖場。

Companies around the world are racing to find eco-friendly versions of the thinnest packaging.

世界各地的公司正在競相尋找環境友善的最薄包裝材料。

It's the stuff that makes up about half of all plastics in our oceans.

塑膠包裝佔我們海洋中所有塑膠大約一半。

Neha Jain says she's invented a product that could replace it.

Neha Jain 說她發明了一種可以取代它的產品。

We make clear, thin films, which we call the good plastic or the kinder form of plastic.

我們製作透明的薄膜，我們稱之為好的塑膠或更友善的塑膠。

Farming seaweed requires no fertilizers, fresh water or land.

種植海藻不需要肥料、淡水或土地。

Neha and her team say their product is nontoxic and completely dissolves in liquid within hours.

Neha 和她的團隊說，他們的產品是無毒的，而且在幾個小時內就可以完全溶解於液體中。

They call the company Zerocircle, a nod toward reducing emissions and waste to zero.

他們的公司叫做 Zerocircle，支持將排放和廢棄物減少到零的理念。

And right now, this startup is competing against seven other plastic alternative companies for a $1.2 million prize.

現在，這家新創公司正在與其他七家塑料替代品公司競爭 120 萬美元的獎金。

We traveled to India to see how seaweed can replace plastic food wrappers.

我們前往印度，看看海藻如何取代塑膠食品包裝。

While extracting this new material requires state-of-the-art gear, farming the seaweed used to make it, uses only the simplest tools.

雖然提取這種新材料需要先進的設備，但種植用於製造它的海藻只需要使用最簡單的工具。

Dilip Kumar owns this seaweed farm and supplies Zerocircle with its raw materials.

Dilip Kumar 是這片海藻養殖場的主人，提供 Zerocircle 所需的原材料。

And this stuff grows fast.

海藻這東西生長得很快。

See, we harvest every 45 days once from the date of seeding.

從播種日開始，我們每隔 45天收成一次。

Dilip hires locals like Coro Pia to build bamboo rafts.

Dilip 聘請像是 Coro Pia 的當地人建造竹筏。

At one time, fishing dominated this area.

漁業曾經一度主宰了這個地區。

But in recent years, more locals have been making a living farming seaweed.

但近年來，更多當地人靠種植海藻維生。

They're working in the same waters where they were used to fish earlier, and now they're able to cultivate.

他們在以前捕魚的同一片水域工作，現在他們學會栽種海藻。

And with over 4500 miles of coastline, India has quite a bit of space to grow it.

印度擁有超過 4500 英里的海岸線，有相當大的空間可以種植海藻。

Seedlings get attached to ropes on each raft and each knot holds one seedlings.

秧苗被綁在每個筏子的繩索上，每個繩結上會綁一株秧苗。

Lakshmi has been farming seaweed for 18 years and she says, locals perception of this business has changed quite a bit.

Lakshmi 已經種植海藻 18 年了，她說當地人對這個行業的看法已經改變了很多。

Everyone used to say that growing seeweed caused dieases, and it will destroy fish.

以前大家都說種植海藻會造成疾病，會破壞魚群。

Now, even the fish are growing by eating them.

現在，就連魚都是吃它們而長大的。

Every part of this operation is done by hand, including hauling full rafts in for harvest.

栽種的每一個過程都是手工完成，包括將滿載海藻的竹筏拉回來收成。

If it hasn't been eaten by fish for 45 days, the seeweed will weigh more than 245kg per raft.

如果海藻在 45 天內沒有被魚吃掉，每個竹筏的海藻重量會超過 245 公斤。

Workers cut the seaweed, but leave some segments to regrow.

工人們割下海藻，但留下一些節段以便再生。

Then the seaweed dries in the sun.

然後海藻在陽光下曬乾。

After about 36 hours, Laxmi removes dried salt, seagrass and other contaminants.

約 36 小時後，Lakshmi 會去除乾掉的鹽、海草和其他雜質。

The dried seaweed lays out in the sun for a few more days before heading to Zerocircle's lab.

乾燥的海藻會在太陽下再曬幾天，然後前往 Zerocircle 的實驗室。

For these farmers, seaweed provides a livelihood but it's not always easy.

對這些農民來說，海藻為他們提供了一份生計，但這過程並沒有那麼容易。

You don't know what comes in the ocean for you today.

你不知道今天在海洋裡會遇到什麼。

It's like a surprise box every day, and you keep solving the puzzle every day.

就像每天開驚喜箱一樣，每天都在不斷解開這個謎題。

They do what they can to protect their crop from wind, waves and hungry fish.

他們竭盡所能保護作物免受風浪和飢餓的魚類侵害。

Commercial seaweed farming around the world has increased a thousandfold since 1950.

商業海藻養殖自 1950 年以來增加了千倍。

But experts warn that large and rapid increases in seaweed farming could have unintended consequences.

但專家警告說，海藻養殖的大幅快速增長可能會產生意想不到的後果。

Rafts of seaweed can block light and change the way water flows to the ecosystem below.

海藻筏會遮擋光線，改變水流對下面的生態系統的影響。

And if farming operations are not managed properly, it can be devastating.

如果養殖操作沒有妥善管理，會帶來災難性的後果。

In 2013, a bacteria decimated the seaweed industry in the Philippines.

2013年，一種細菌摧毀了菲律賓的海藻產業。

Studies show the disease spread easily among rafts that were placed too close together.

研究顯示，這種疾病在相距太近的木筏之間容易傳播。

Here at Zerocircle's lab in Pune, seaweed transforms into plastic alternatives.

在印度浦那的 Zerocircle 實驗室中，海藻轉化為塑料替代品。

First, the dried seaweed goes through several washing and milling steps.

首先，乾燥的海藻會經過多次清洗和研磨。

Notice how free-flowing this is.

你們有注意到這有多流暢自然嗎？

Clean water washes impurities away.

用潔淨的水沖洗，可洗去雜質。

The washed seaweed then goes into a reactor to be heated.

清洗後的海藻進入反應爐進行加熱。

The carbohydrates inside seaweed are what's needed to make plastic-like material.

海藻中的碳水化合物是製造類塑料材料所需的成分。

This material is extremely gel-like and viscous.

這種材料非常像凝膠且具有粘性。

Technicians add solvents, it's strained and then we get this.

技術人員添加溶劑，過濾，然後得到這個成品。

You can see the gel start to clump together in the beaker.

你可以看到凝膠開始在燒杯中凝聚在一起。

The next stop is this device called a rotary evaporator.

下一站是旋轉蒸餾器。

It removes solvents until it's refined into a more free-flowing gel.

它會去除溶劑，直到精煉成更流暢滑順的凝膠。

Then it's put into a cast to mold and dry.

然後放入模具中進行成型和乾燥。

If you notice, this forms a nice, think gel.

你看，這會變成一個很棒又厚的凝膠。

It can be removed from the plate in a few minutes.

它只要幾分鐘內就可以拿起來。

And when stretched thinner, the seaweed mix comes out looking like the familiar film companies used to package food.

當它被拉薄時，它的外觀就像是食品包裝商用來包裝食物的薄膜。

Zerocircle's film can be sealed with heat, just like plastic wrap.

Zerocircle 的薄膜可以像塑料膜一樣被熱封，

But unlike conventional plastic, it dissolves in water.

但跟傳統塑料不同的是，它可以在水中溶解。

In boiling water, it's a matter of moments; in seawater, the team says the film would be gone within 2-4 hours, and it takes up to four months in a compost pile.

在沸水中，它只需要幾分鐘的時間就能溶解。該團隊表示，在海水中，薄膜會在 2-4 小時內會消失，而在堆肥中最長需要四個月的時間。

Zerocircle designed a product compatible with existing machinery, meaning that manufacturers wouldn't need new equipment to make the plastic-free film.

Zerocircle 設計了一種與現有機制兼容的產品，這代表製造商不需要新設備來製造無塑料的薄膜。

These pellets are then put into a manufacturing line, which come out as clear, thin firms.

然後這些海藻粒被放入生產線，最終會變成透明的薄膜。

We're not disrupting it, but we're sort of retrofitting our product into it.

我們沒有顛覆傳統的生產方式，我們是在某種程度上是把我們的產品加進現有的機器。

And the company plans to begin selling pellets by 2024.

該公司計劃在 2024 年開始銷售海藻粒。

The idea is that manufacturers could make edible, biodegradable forms of many products,

我們的想法是，製造商可以製造可食用、可生物降解的各種形式的產品，

like dissolvable soup and tea bag packets, wrappers for burgers, gift wraps, fashioned packaging, and good old grocery store bags.

例如可溶的湯和茶包袋、漢堡包裝紙、禮品包裝、時尚品包裝和傳統的雜貨店購物袋。

They have very, very good capacity.

它們可以裝很多東西，

They can hold up to 5 to 8 kg in a single shopping bag.

一個海藻製購物袋可以承載五至八公斤的重量。

While these plastic alternatives offer great environmental benefits, traditional plastic film made from oil is still cheaper.

雖然這些塑料替代品具有巨大的環保效益，但由石油製成的傳統塑料膜仍然更便宜。

We are trying to solve two big problems.

我們正嘗試解決兩個大問題。

One is make a fantastic material, and make the material at a cost that people are able to use it.

一個是製造出一種優秀的材料，另一個是以人們能夠負擔的成本製造這種材料。

So Zerocircle claims to have an eco-friendly plastic alternative that it wants to scale up.

Zerocircle 研發出一種環保的塑料替代品，希望擴大生產，

But it's not alone.

但他們不是唯一想要這樣做的。

The company is one of eight finalists for the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize.

Zerocircle 只是 Tom Ford 塑膠創新獎的八個決賽選手之一。

The fashion designer partnered with Lonely Whale, a nonprofit that played a huge role in the movement to eliminate plastic drinking straws.

這間時裝設計品牌與非營利組織 Lonely Whale 合作，該組織在消除塑料吸管的運動中發揮了巨大的影嚮力。

They're offering $1.2 million to find alternatives for thin plastic films.

他們提供了 120 萬美元的獎金，用來尋找薄塑料膜的替代品。

I was ecstatic.

我欣喜若狂。

We almost missed the deadline because we did not know about it.

我們差點錯過了最後期限，因為我們不知道這件事。

Four of the finalists this year employ seaweed alternatives.

今年有四個入圍者採用了海藻作為替代品。

The seaweed community is not very competitive.

海藻界的競爭不是很激烈。

They're very friendly with each other, and we're all friends.

我們彼此之間關係非常友好，我們都是朋友。

We talk about the same problems.

我們談論共同的問題。

Judges took over a year to make sure the winning companies solution is more than just marketing.

評審們花了一年時間確認勝出的公司所提出的解決方案不僅僅是為了市場銷售。

Scientists ran each product through a battery of experiments.

科學家們透過一系列實驗來評估每種產品，

Samples sat in ocean water for months in the same conditions conventional ocean plastic would.

樣本在海洋水中浸泡數月，處於與傳統海洋塑料相同的條件下，

Those junk on it.

上面那些垃圾。

Other trials assessed how the plastic alternatives might affect wildlife.

其他還有對野生動物會造成何種影響的試驗。

The finalists and the controls are going to sit in a simulated whale gut for 24 hours.

決賽的產品和對照組會放置在模擬鯨魚腸道的試驗品中 24 個小時。

When Insider published this video, the winner of the Tom Ford Prize had not been announced.

Insider 發布這支影片時，該比賽的獲獎者尚未公佈，

We'll add a link in the description to the winning companies.

我們會在說明欄中放上獲勝公司的連結。

I think it's probably one of the longest-running challenges that we've been part of.

我認為這可能是我們參與過最長時間的挑戰之一，

But they're doing this right, and I think that's what makes it special.

但他們正在做的事情是對的，也是為什麼他們會這麼特別的原因。

Neha was inspired in part by her own consumption.

Neha 的啟發部分來自於她自己的消費行為。

I always had that guilt that I think every millennial has about the amount of pollution that we are creating on a daily basis.

我總是有一種罪惡感，這種罪惡感是我認為每個千禧一代對我們每天創造的污染都會有的。

So Zerocircle is not only looking at plastic films but the things we may not think about much.

Zerocircle 不僅關注塑料薄膜，還關注我們可能沒有多想的東西。

Brands that are switching to paper are still attaching plastic linings, glues, coatings.

即使是轉向紙類的品牌仍然使用塑膠內襯、膠水和塗層，

But Neha and Zerocircle are working to switch even those parts out with seaweed.

但 Neha 和 Zerocircle 正在努力用海藻來代替這些產品。

This is first time we have developed the seaweed-based glue.

這是我們第一次開發海藻基底的膠水。

This is formaldehyde-free and volatile, organic-compound-free.

這是不含甲醛和揮發性有機化合物。

It works on cardboard, paper and wood with quite a bit of strength.

它適用於硬紙板、紙張和木材，具有相當大的強度。

So Zerocircle's future could be growing as fast as seaweed.

Zerocircle 的未來可能會像海藻一樣快速增長。

And there was an ocean of opportunity that nobody was looking at, which I felt like for a country like India, it's unfathomable why people would not look at that opportunity.

世界滿是還沒有人注意到的機會，我不懂為什麼像印度這樣的國家要忽略這些機會。