But Pam, I don't want to spring clean.
I could be doing my Rubik's Cube blindfolded.
Right, you haven't solved it with your eyes.
Why would you be able to do it with a blindfold on?
Because when I don't look at my problems, they go away.
Oh dear.
I'm good.
I'm okay.
I'm good.
So you didn't look in that closet for a long time and all your junk just came barreling down on you?
Yeah, see?
It's not a problem.
I found my snowball maker, my wetsuit in case I want to start surfing this summer.
Why do you have a taco costume?
I get a discount on Taco Tuesdays when I rock that costume.
Thank you very much.
Gotta find a place for all this great stuff.
No, Rye.
We're spring cleaning.
We gotta keep, toss, or recycle everything.
Even the box my iPhone came in?
Especially that.
Oh, wait.
Earth Day's around the corner.
I gotta clean my act up ASAP.
It's never too late to start.
I'm Pamela Kirkland.
It's Friday, April 18th.
And I'm Ryan Willard.
This is a 10 News Deep Dive.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Get recycled on, Owen.
You need to rinse the jar up before you can recycle it.
Naomi, I gave it a rinse.
It's fine.
No, it has to be cleaned out.
Hey, Ryan, do you think this needs to be more clean before I recycle it?
Um, if I have to clean it, I think it's fine.
But if you're going to clean it, I think you should definitely clean it more.
Oh, or maybe you should ask everyone's favorite nature nerd, Miss Lane.
I'm just going to recycle it.
You can't just recycle it.
Hey, Naomi.
Hey, Owen.
Hey, Miss Lane.
I couldn't help but overhear the two of you fighting.
Let me share a little story that I think might help.
When I was five, I decided that my brother and I were best friends.
Then he ripped the head off my favorite Barbie doll, and I decided we were not.
As a kid, I was sad to see my headless doll go to the dump.
As an adult, I know she made plenty of friends.
Your headless doll made friends with the dump?
Was she friends with a rat?
Not exactly.
So, who did your Barbie befriend?
Other broken Barbies.
Toys make up 6% of plastic in landfills.
Now...
6 might not sound like much, but that number gets a whole lot bigger when you put it in perspective.
Each year, over 28 million tons of plastic end up in landfills around the world.
About 6% of that is plastic from toys.
Whoa, that's a lot of plastic.
Actually, that's equivalent to 4.59 Empire State Building's worth of plastic.
That's, that's exactly correct.
How did you know that?
I'm really good at math.
Wow.
And I might have read your notes.
Owen.
Wait, why are so many toys being trash?
Toys end up in the trash for many reasons.
Some toys break, like my Barbie.
Others get thrown away when children outgrow them or lose interest.
In a recent study, 33 of parents interviewed admitted to throwing out toys in good condition because their kids outgrew them or lost interest.
Wait, mom threw away my scooter?
Mom!
Okay, but why throw them in the trash?
Plastic is recyclable.
Yes, but not all plastics are recycled.
There are hundreds of different types of plastic, but scientists break them down into seven categories.
Some plastics, like the ones used for water bottles, are recycled because they can be easily shredded, melted and remolded.
Other plastics, like the ones used to make bottle caps and styrofoam, are harder to recycle because of added chemicals and higher melting points.
Let me guess.
Toys are usually made from the hard-to-recycle plastic.
Yeah.
And they're typically made from a combination of plastics, which makes them extra tricky.
Good news.
I found my scooter.
Ugh.
What's got you so bummed out?
Toys aren't recyclable.
That's not true.
It takes extra work to recycle toys, but...
It can be done.
Take Hasbro, for example.
That's the company that makes Nerf guns.
Yeah.
They started a toy recycling program in 2018 and so far they've kept 20 tons of plastic from landfills.
And recycling isn't the only solution.
Other big toy companies like Mattel, Lego and Playmobil are switching to more eco-conscious building materials.
So, they're going to make Barbies out of wood?
Don't be ridiculous.
Maybe they should use bamboo.
It's more sustainable.
Not a bad idea, Naomi.
But they're actually using plastic.
Uh, isn't that like the whole problem?
Plastics pulled from the ocean.
And plastics made from renewable organic resources instead of fossil fuels.
Oh, that makes more sense.
Yeah.
And there are even companies that specialize in fixing broken toys.
Like Dagoma, a 3D printing company who designed over a hundred commonly broken replacement parts for toys.
Do they make doll heads?
Huh, I'm not sure.
Come on, Naomi.
Let's go.
Go where?
To the dump.
We're gonna put Miss Lane's Barbie back together.
You're doing good, Rye.
Keep up the cleaning.
Next up is... Oh no, it's my water bottle closet.
Your what?
Um, well, I mean, it's... Really, not sure what else I was expecting.
Rye, that is a lot of plastic bottles.
Yeah, I'm a hydrated individual.
Thank you for noticing.
No, that's a lot to recycle, but also, I think you might want to watch your plastic usage.
Why?
Water bottles aren't that great for the environment and they potentially contain a lot of microplastics.
Micro-elastic like tiny rubber bands?
No, micro-plastics that can get into your blood.
Micro-plastics can get in my blood.
Understood.
Right, slow down.
What do we do when we're scared about something?
Um, ignore it and wait for it to go away?
Nope, we learn as much as we can and talk about it, remember?
Okay, so then can we do five things to know about microplastics?
Yes, yes we can.
First and foremost, one, do you know what microplastics are exactly?
Yeah, microplastics are fragments of plastic up to five millimeters long.
They become micro or incredibly tiny because plastic isn't biodegradable.
Biodegradable means something can be broken down or decomposed by bacteria or or other living organisms, like an orange peel.
If you throw an orange peel on the ground, either an organism will eat it or several months later it will naturally break down into the ground.
Plastics were made by humans, and it never actually goes away.
Plastic just breaks down into smaller and smaller particles, aka microplastics.
That's exactly right.
But where do microplastics primarily come from?
Microplastics can come in various forms.
Primary microplastics are intentionally small plastic particles like plastic glitter or microbeads used in cosmetics or from microfibers which come off some clothing during washing.
Secondary microplastics come from the breakdown of larger plastic items, such as plastic garbage, when it's exposed to the environment and weather for long enough.
And then there are nanoplastics, which are even smaller and harder to detect and study.
But one study in the Alps found that nanoplastic particles from vehicle tires are polluting the famous mountains.
Okay, but then how do they get in our bodies?
I don't generally eat glitter, but it has happened and I'm not proud of it.
Well, because microplastics have spread into our environment, we can consume them.
There are a lot of microplastics in the ocean which are then ingested by marine life, which some of us eat.
That's seafood.
And studies have shown the presence of microplastics in common food products like beverages or even water bottles, as well as plant-based food and even salt, sugar and honey.
Oh my gosh, so they're like everywhere.
But how do they affect our bodies when they get inside of us?
Because the bigger particles we ingest are supposed to pass through our gut and exit when we go to the bathroom, right?
And our respiratory systems will filter some of them out too, right?
That's right.
But we're unsure about the smaller pieces.
A team of scientists in the Netherlands were the first to detect microplastic in the blood seven years ago.
Normally, enzymes in our body clean up stuff we don't want in there, but aren't able to do much about microplastics.
So it can be an opponent for your immune system, and we don't really know what will happen to microplastics or how much they'll build up.
So can microplastics hurt us right now?
We're not fully sure yet.
There's a lot of research being done around the world so we can get ahead of microplastics.
While they're figuring it out, what can we do in the meantime?
The Global Plastics Treaty is an international agreement currently being negotiated by about 175 countries to end plastic pollution at every stage of its lifecycle, from when it's made to when it's thrown away.
It aims to reduce plastic waste and enhance recycling, And at home we can do simple things like avoid cooking with plastic or heating up plastic containers.
You can use a stainless steel mug instead of disposable cups or swap your plastic containers with glass.
Okay, I can do those.
I think the scary part for me is the unknown, but knowing more about it and knowing some steps that I can take definitely helps me process this.
Thanks for helping me break things down, Pam.
Of course, Rye.
Whoa, Owen, you smell like hot garbage, my dude.
Are you okay?
Are you having a fart attack?
No, I just got back from a garbage dump.
Just helping save the planet one reassembled Barbie at a time.
Oh, well, that's amazing.
Do you have some recycling-related trivia for me?
I absolutely do.
Step right up to the trivia throne.
Drinking out of a glass bottle is safer for the planet and for our bodies to avoid using plastic.
Glass is a recyclable material, but how many times can a glass bottle be recycled?
Is it A. One time, B.
50 times, C.
100 times, or D. An infinite amount of times?
Did you get it?
The answer is... D. Glass can be recycled endlessly without loss of quality.
That means the glass jar that you have now can be used to make a new glass product that's as good as new.
Each year, about 2.4 million tons of recycled glass are used to make new bottles and jars.
2.4 million tons is 5,291,000,000
94,292 pounds.
Whoa.
Imagine having that many of anything.
What about 5 million butterflies?
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
Not today.
I need happy things.
For every 6 tons of recycled glass in manufacturing, we can reduce 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions.
Happy enough for you?
Good save, Owen.
Thank you for the trivia.
I can't wait to share with Pam.
Feeling better, Ryan?
Yes, I am no longer panicking and trying to do little things to help reduce my plastic use.
But all this talk about recycling has made me thirsty.
You did run about 17 laps around the studio at full speed.
And I'll do it again once I am hydrated.
Here, have a glass of water.
Yep, I'm now refreshed and ready for 10 new snaps.
But before that, here's a quick note for the grown-ups.
It's time for 10 News Snaps.
On Apple Podcast, a tenor named Marlo left us a five-star review.
Thank you, Marlo.
What a cool name you have.
And a tenor named Rick Riordan Fan said, this is my go-to news source.
By the way, this is Tupelo.
I was on the Election Day Takeover.
Tupelo, so nice to hear from you.
I also love your name, too, and love the job that you did on that election special.
Marlo, awesome name.
Tupelo, awesome.
Also an awesome name, but just a reminder, Tupelo, stop trying to take my job.
You got to finish school and I need this job.
Thanks.
But I might need you to fill in for me the day the Switch 2 comes out, because I'm not coming in that day.
And two extra notes for the grownups.
You can now get ad-free versions of our episodes when you join the Tenors Club on our website.
And if you want to help support the 10 News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes.
The whole team thanks you for your support.
The 10 News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcast and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.
The 10 News creative team is going thrift shopping and includes Tracy Notta Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard Brian, Not Ryan.
Douglas and Carson, Not So Harry Potter.
Big thanks to Owen Not Slowing Down for anybody.
Our production director is Jeremiah Unfair.
Faya Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright, Albright Albright and show creator Tracy Takes the Leads Kaplan.
I'm Pamela Kirkland.
And I'm Ryan Willard.
Thanks for listening to this 10 News Deep Dive.
