Whether we like it or not, we're gonna have a lot of plastic for the foreseeable.

無論我們喜歡與否，在可預見的未來，我們將擁有大量的塑膠。

Whilst it definitely has its negative side effects, it's also important to recognize that it's a pretty amazing material that has enabled so much.

雖然它肯定有其負面影響，同樣重要的是要認識到，塑膠是一種非常神奇的材料，它能夠產生如此多的物質。

A major issue is that all of the plastic that's ever been created still exists in some form somewhere.

一個重要的問題是，所有曾經被製造出來的塑膠仍然以某種形式存在於某個地方。

One of the companies that's revolutionizing plastic has been creating products that will biodegrade in certain conditions like in heat, air, moisture, or sunlight.

其中一家正在對塑膠進行革命性改造的公司已經開發出了可在特定條件下生物降解的產品，如在高溫、空氣溼度或陽光下。

The aim is to return the material back into nature⏤well, as much as they possibly can, anyway.

他們的目標是儘可能多地將材料回歸自然。

Poly material as plastic alternative has been around for a few years now.

聚酯材料的塑膠替代品已經問世數年。

It's used for food packaging and some cups.

它被用於食品包裝和一些杯子。

But now, the company is moving into a slightly different type of material.

但現在，該公司正在向一種略有不同的材料領域發展。

In fact, replacing what's used in some products that you might not even know was plastic in the first place.

事實上，在某些產品中使用的塑膠，你可能根本不知道是塑膠。

Think face masks, women's hygiene products, or wipes.

如面膜、婦女衛生用品或溼巾。

What we're doing for wipes, diapers, tea bags,

我們為溼巾、尿布、茶包所做的工作，

they all have their unique use case, if you want, and also time frame within which we would want biodegradation to happen.

它們都有其獨特的使用案例，而且我們希望在一定時間內實現生物降解。

How does the transformation process actually work?

轉型過程是如何實際運作的？

There's three core things: The time control piece, that's the self destructing part.

有三個核心部分：時間控制部分，即自毀部分。

So that's... that's something that at point of manufacture, so we can dial that up or dial that down.

是以，這是在生產點的事情，所以我們可以調高或調低。

That's, literally, within a couple of weeks, is taking it from its plastic like state into its wax-like state.

從字面上看，幾周內就能將其從塑膠狀態變成蠟狀。

But that's not where it stops.

但這並不是終點。

The third thing that we're doing is, we make that wax draw in microbes and fungi and bacteria,

我們正在做的第三件事是讓蠟吸附微生物、真菌和細菌。

and that is the way we're able to get those materials fully back to nature in less than a year.

是以，我們能夠在不到一年的時間內使這些材料完全迴歸自然。

Well, they seem just the same as the plastic version.

它們看起來與塑膠版一樣。

They feel the same, they look the same, but once they start to transform, that's when things are very different.

他們感覺一樣，看起來也一樣，但一旦他們開始轉變，情況就大不相同了。

And this is what it looks like.

這就是它的外觀。

It's very, very soft and, apparently, is completely harmless.

它非常非常柔軟，而且顯然完全無害。

(It) Looks like powder, but sort of disappears.

看起來像粉末，但有點消失。

I wanted to show you how, uh, biotransformed, uh, wax looked like and felt like versus, uh, microplastic.

我想向您展示百奧特轉化蠟與微型塑膠的外觀和手感。

- And that's what you've touched a bit before. - Yes.

這就是你之前接觸過的東西，我們把它放在這個小瓶裡，嗯，向你展示它在微熱時的表現。

And we've put that in... in this vial um to show you how it behaves when you heat it slightly.

- Now, it's completely melting, and you can see that the other bit of plastic is completely the same. - Yeah.

現在它完全融化了，您可以看到另一點塑膠也完全一樣，我想也是如此。

- As I would expect to stay just the same. - You see?

It just looks the same.

只是看起來一樣。

And, now, if I take this one and I tilt it, it flows like a candle.

如果我把這個瓶子傾斜，它就會像蠟燭一樣流動，在自然界中，瓶子會發生生物轉化，變成蠟，然後蠟會像香蕉皮或蘋果核一樣被自然界完全生物降解。

What you will have in nature is that you will have a bottle biotransforming and becoming, uh, wax,

and that wax will then be fully biodegraded like a banana peel or apple core by nature.

We've looked at other companies before who are trying to solve the plastic problem.

我們已經考察過其他試圖解決塑膠問題的公司。

What is it about your products that means they can actually do the job?

您的產品有何特點？這意味著他們能夠真正完成工作。

We've published more papers in this space than anyone else,

我們在這一領域發表的論文比其他任何人都多。

so, we put our data out there to be rigorously reviewed by other experts in this field.

是以，我們將我們的數據提供給該領域的其他專家進行嚴格審查。

What we're really trying to do is create something that's capable of moving the needle on a hundred-million-ton-per-annum problem.

我們真正要做的是創造出能夠解決年產量1億噸問題的產品。

They are continuing to develop the technology, and whilst there's no silver bullet, there are alternatives being worked on.

該公司由22歲的雅各布-內森（Jacob Nathan）創立，旨在改變塑膠的分解方式。

Founded by 22-year-old Jacob Nathan, Epoch BioDesign is looking to change the way plastic is broken down.

We design enzymes that break down plastic waste, and the resulting chemicals that we make from that,

我們設計的酶可以分解塑膠廢棄物，由此產生的化學品可以製成各種新產品，如油漆、塗料、肥料、清潔產品，最終制成新塑膠。

we can manufacture into all sorts of new products like paints, coatings, fertilizers, cleaning products, and, ultimately, new plastic.

The beauty of biology is that it enables us to carry out chemical reactions at very, very low temperatures.

生物學的魅力在於它使我們能夠在非常非常低的溫度下進行化學反應。

And, so, we can use enzymes that enable these sorts of chemical reactions to happen at very low temperatures and pressures

是以，我們可以使用酶，使這些化學反應在非常低的溫度和壓力下發生，將這些塑膠分解成這些構件，從而製造出新的塑膠。

to break down those plastics into those building blocks to make those new plastics again.

There are two sides to this equation.

同樣，這個等式有兩個方面。

One is we make way too much of the stuff.

一個原因是我們生產了太多的產品，另一個原因是我們實際上不知道用完這些產品後該如何處理。

But the other is we don't actually know what to do with most of it once we're done using it, right?

對

Even if we stopped making plastics tomorrow, we still have 10 billion tons that are just, sort of, sitting around taking up space.

即使我們明天就停止生產塑膠，我們仍然有100億噸的塑膠被閒置在那裡，佔據著空間，我們可能想利用這些塑膠做些什麼。

And we might want to do something with that.