logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2021
11m 43s

What happens to the plastic you throw aw...

TED
About this episode

Plastic is everywhere. We know we should cut down on it where we can, but is plastic ever the answer? In this episode, a whole world of plastic you never knew about. Starting with: which bag is best: paper, plastic, or cotton? The answer might surprise you. Dan breaks down the pros and cons of each bag, and which you should carry on your next shopping trip. Then we follow the journey of three different plastic bottles after you throw them away, shedding light on the dangers these disposables present to our world. Plus, three things you can do to put a cap on our plastic problem. You can read the full text transcript for this episode at go.ted.com/TC1

TED Climate is produced and edited by Sheena Ozaki and hosted by Dan Kwartler. Our mixer is Sam Bair. This episode adapted two lessons originally produced in animated form by the TED-Ed team. “Plastic vs Paper vs Cloth Bags” was written by Luka Seamus Wright & Imogen Ellen Napper with editorial support from Alex Gendler and Dan Kwartler, with fact-check by Eden Girma. “What really happens to the plastic you throw away?” was written by Emma Bryce, with editorial support from Alex Rosenthal and fact-check by Sarah Silvergleid. Special thanks to them, and to Gerta Xhelo, Stephanie Lo, Michelle Quint, Banban Cheng, and Anna Phelan.

For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Nov 2024
Decarbonizing aviation (from Climate Rising)
This is an episode from our friends at the Climate Rising podcast.This episode in our hard-to-abate series features aviation expert Robin Riedel, a Partner at McKinsey & Company who co-leads the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility. Robin describes five approaches to decarbonize a ... Show More
56m 48s
May 2024
This ancient rock is changing our theory on the origin of life | Tara Djokic
Exactly when and where did life on Earth begin? Scientists have long thought that it emerged three billion years ago in the ocean — until astrobiologist Tara Djokic and her team made an unexpected discovery in the western Australian desert. Learn how an ancient rock found near a ... Show More
12m 32s
May 2024
How to build an equitable and just climate future | Peggy Shepard
Everyone has the right to a clean environment — but major disparities exist when it comes to who faces the consequences of pollution. Environmental justice leader Peggy Shepard points to the disproportionate impact that hazardous environmental conditions have on Black, brown and ... Show More
13m 40s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2021
TED Climate: What happens to the plastic you throw away?
Plastic is everywhere. We know we should cut down on it where we can, but is plastic ever the answer? In this episode, a whole world of plastic you never knew about. Starting with: which bag is best: paper, plastic, or cotton? The answer might surprise you. Dan breaks down the pr ... Show More
12m 33s
Aug 2021
What happens to the plastic you throw away? | TED Climate
Plastic is everywhere. We know we should cut down on it where we can, but is plastic ever the answer? In this episode of TED Climate, a whole world of plastic you never knew about. Starting with: which bag is best -- paper, plastic or cotton? The answer might surprise you. Host D ... Show More
12m 1s
Sep 2020
What is plastic?
#062Think about it for a second, plastic is everywhere. What plastic things are around you right now? What plastic things do you use everyday? This week, Melissa and Jam dive right into the proverbial (and sort of literal) ball pit. What even is plastic? What is it made of? How i ... Show More
31m 52s
Nov 2018
Why We Fell In Love with Plastic
Plastic waste and pollution have become a global problem but is there any sign of a global solution? And how did we allow this to happen in the first place? Materials scientist and broadcaster, Professor Mark Miodownik, explores how we fell in love with plastic, why we've ended u ... Show More
26m 28s
Mar 2021
Plastic Pollution - with Steve Backshall and Georgia May Jagger
“If you’ve eaten seafood, you’ve eaten plastic” It’s time to talk plastics. Every piece of plastic we consume stays in the environment for up to hundreds of years. The sheer scale of plastics in the environment are dramatically impacting ocean wildlife and human health. For this ... Show More
27m 8s
Mar 2022
Plastics - A comedy science quiz
The best things about plastic, it’s durability and usefulness, are also the worst things, which makes plastic the perfect material for manufacturing double edged swords. Comedians Claire Hooper, Kirsty Webeck and science journalist Jacinta Bowler help us smother the ocean of igno ... Show More
25m 6s
Dec 2022
Plastic Rap
Plastic waste never really breaks down. It just splits into tinier and tinier pieces until it becomes trillions of microscopic bits scattered across the world. Microplastics are everywhere: In the air we breathe and the water we drink, atop the highest mountains and in the deepes ... Show More
38m 23s
Apr 2024
Where Does Plastic Go?
Happy Earth Day, Curious People! To celebrate, we’re inviting research scientist Marcus Eriksen from 5 Gyres to the pod. Marcus tells us about his 88 day journey from California to Hawaii sailing on a raft made from 15,000 plastic bottles to research microplastics in the ocean an ... Show More
51m 4s
Aug 2022
The problem with plastics -- and how to start cleaning up the mess | Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez
Plastics are everywhere -- they're in our favorite electronic devices, they package our food and insulate our homes. Today, the total mass of plastic is twice the total mass of all living organisms on the planet, and it's starting to change the processes that allow the Earth's cl ... Show More
10m 22s