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  • - [Justine] Recycled aluminum is coming for your water,

  • and your iPad.

  • - 100% recyled aluminum. (audience applauds)

  • - It's just water but I feel good about it.

  • - More and more companies are making products

  • out of recyled aluminum as a way to go green,

  • and to help solve a big problem,

  • plastic pollution.

  • Unlike plastic, aluminum can be recyled almost indefinitely,

  • so it has the potential to put a huge dent

  • in the mountains of plastic waste we produce.

  • But is aluminum's future really as bright

  • as all the hype suggests?

  • (light music)

  • You probably know that plastic is a real problem.

  • It's made using fossil fuels and lots of them.

  • Globally we produce 400 million tons of plastic every year.

  • And when we're done with it,

  • most ends up in landfills or the ocean.

  • What's worse, less than 10% of all plastics ever made

  • have been recyled.

  • But there's a broader problem with plastic recycling,

  • even when a plastic bottle actually gets recycled,

  • it usually doesn't become another plastic bottle.

  • - The issue is a little bit more complex

  • than the general media would have you believe.

  • - That's Uday Patel,

  • he's a senior researcher with the energy consulting firm,

  • Wood Mackenzie.

  • And he says that bottle containing, say, fizzy drinks,

  • are actually made from layers of different polymers.

  • - When you try and then recycle them,

  • it's far more difficult to separate

  • all the constituent polymers out

  • then convert that back into another bottle ready for use.

  • - Instead of being perfectly recycled,

  • plastics like these usually get down-cycled.

  • Those bottles might end up as fibers in a pillow,

  • or maybe a garbage bin.

  • So most of that stuff can't be recycled,

  • the plastic ends up in the trash eventually.

  • Down-cycling just delays the inevitable.

  • Finding alternatives to plastic is where aluminum comes in.

  • Unlike plastics, aluminum isn't considered

  • a dead end waste stream.

  • An aluminum can become yet another aluminum can

  • pretty much without losing anything in the process.

  • The average aluminum can contains

  • almost 70% recycled content.

  • That's more than three times the recycled content

  • the EPA estimates for glass or plastic,

  • and almost 70% of all the aluminum produced to date

  • is still in use today.

  • Though some environmental advocates

  • think that number is lower.

  • Aluminum hasn't always been a popular choice

  • for beverage containers

  • because it's more expensive than plastic,

  • but as plastic gets a bad rap,

  • more and more people are becoming fans of the aluminum can.

  • Coca-Cola and Pepsi announced this year

  • that they're working to roll out

  • water packaged in aluminum

  • as part of their efforts to cut down on plastic waste.

  • And then there's Jason Momoa,

  • who announced a new line of canned water in April,

  • and made some big claims along the way.

  • - Only one thing

  • can really help our planet and save our planet

  • as long as we recycle,

  • and that's aluminum.

  • - But whether we take a sip from a can or a bottle,

  • that containers comes with an environmental cost.

  • As consumers,

  • it's easier to see the pollution from our trash

  • than the destruction from manufacturing.

  • But the manufacturing is often much worse.

  • Even though aluminum is one of the most abundant metals

  • on Earth's crust,

  • it's not so easy to extract.

  • It's hidden away in this, bauxite ore.

  • Up to five tons of bauxite might need to be mined

  • in order to get one ton of aluminum.

  • And to separate the aluminum from the bauxite,

  • it goes through a chemical process

  • that leaves behind a toxic, red sludge.

  • Making aluminum also releases super potent greenhouse gases,

  • called perfluorocarbons.

  • It actually takes about twice as much energy

  • to produce new aluminum as it does to produce new plastic.

  • But recycling aluminum saves about 90% of the energy

  • that it took to make it.

  • So to reap the most environmental rewards

  • of using aluminum,

  • we ought to make sure we're sinking our money

  • into recycled and not virgin aluminum.

  • Some companies are getting that memo.

  • Over the past couple of years,

  • Apple started making cases for its laptops,

  • iPads, and watches with 100% recycled aluminum.

  • But the net environmental benefits aren't totally clear yet.

  • - This is one of those instances where

  • disentangling the marketing

  • from the actual manufacturing practice

  • is hard to do without fuller disclosure

  • from the company in question.

  • - That's Josh Lepawsky,

  • a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland

  • who maps the international movement of electronic waste.

  • - Using recycled metals, especially recycled aluminum,

  • by manufacturers, that in itself is not new.

  • Apple may be presenting it as a new development for them.

  • - He points out that recycling

  • isn't a perfect process either,

  • especially when it comes to electronics,

  • which can be loaded with toxic stuff

  • that can harm the environment

  • and people after being thrown away.

  • - Getting recycled materials is an industrial process.

  • And, as an industrial process it can be very ugly,

  • and have real harm.

  • Workers in recycling plants can experience harm,

  • there's no question.

  • - Cans and iPads are just pieces of the global demand

  • for aluminum.

  • Aluminum production boomed from 2010 to 2018,

  • thanks in part to China's industrialization,

  • but since 2018, trade wars, and slowing growth in China,

  • curbed demand.

  • Some experts do see signs of a rebound,

  • and it might be thanks, in part, to aluminum cans.

  • - Change in consumer tastes and preferences

  • that will dictate what happens there.

  • But certainly with some of our contacts

  • within the industry,

  • we're hearing of increasing interest in the use of

  • aluminum can stock.

  • All of a sudden it's gotten a little bit more,

  • what's the word?

  • Sexy.

  • It's become a little bit more buzzworthy.

  • - More aluminum demand might be good for business,

  • but you can probably see where this is going.

  • Eco-friendly consumption is still consumption.

  • And it can even be self defeating.

  • It's a problem called Jevons Paradox.

  • In the 19th century,

  • William Jevons argued that making coal use more efficient

  • actually led to people using more coal

  • instead of less of it.

  • The same could happen for aluminum.

  • The takeaway is that aluminum isn't gonna save the world.

  • We don't wanna solve one problem, too much plastic,

  • by creating a new one, too much aluminum.

  • Hey, everyone, if you wanna learn about the dark side

  • of e-waste recycling,

  • check out the video below.

  • And don't forget to like and subscribe.

  • Thanks for watching.

- [Justine] Recycled aluminum is coming for your water,

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B2 中高級 美國腔

鋁比塑膠好嗎?這很複雜。 (Is aluminum better than plastic? It’s complicated.)

  • 25 2
    Courtney Shih 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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