I’m learning more and more about the greenhouse gas emissions of plastic. According to an article in the New York Times, “Petrochemicals are currently the largest industrial energy consumer and the third-largest industrial emitter of greenhouse gas emissions”.
That in itself is alarming. On top of that is a study from the University of Hawaii, that shows plastic particles, exposed to the sun, radiate greenhouse gasses. They found once plastic degrades to small particles, such as plastic trash on beaches, greenhouse gasses are emitted.
While it’s best to avoid plastic as much as we can, what do we do with all the plastic already out there, polluting the environment? And what has martial artist and actor Jackie Chan to do with all this?
In his National Geographic television documentary Green Heroes he features Arthur Huang, founder of Miniwiz. The company Miniwiz designed Trashpresso, the world’s first mobile waste recycling plant. Trashpresso can be moved on two trailers. In the documentary, kids from Tibet collect and feed it plastic trash such as bottles. The Trashpresso then recycles those into plastic tiles.
With Trashpresso we aim to inspire people by showing them the recycling process and teaching them how to recycle.
https://trashpresso.com/
What I like most about it? Two things. First, Trashpresso operates incredibly sustainable. The energy used comes from solar panels. The water used is purified and reused over and over again. And air filters prevent the release of toxic vapors. And second, they are turning plastic trash into tiles that can be used as flooring, insulation, or decorative tiles.
Stay tuned, the third version of the Trashpresso is currently being developed at Miniwiz Labs in Germany and Taiwan.