41 episodes

The Pristine Ocean Podcast shares real stories about people fighting marine plastic pollution. Listen in for new insights how we are all connected in the task of keeping the oceans pristine.

Pristine Ocean Podcast Peter Hall

    • News

The Pristine Ocean Podcast shares real stories about people fighting marine plastic pollution. Listen in for new insights how we are all connected in the task of keeping the oceans pristine.

    The School (for entrepreneurs) with Kanika from Plastiskul

    The School (for entrepreneurs) with Kanika from Plastiskul

    Plastiskul
    So Science
    Conserve India
    Precious Plastic
    Fablabs

    Plastic pollution is killing wildlife, strangling our waterways and ruining our beaches and is now seeping up through the food chain and, voila, being served with our food.
    This is the Pristine Ocean Podcast. My name is Peter Hall. Each episode, we hear from change makers fighting the scourge of plastic pollution.

    Let's talk about the circular economy. I think most people understand that if we are going to continue to benefit from the usefulness of plastic, that burning, burying or dumping is simply not sustainable. We need to feed plastic waste back into the plastic production chain, ideally to the point where we need little or no new plastic material to be created.

    An interesting player in the circular economy space is Plastiskul. Plastiskul provides the tools and knowhow for entrepreneurs to create business models around upcycling plastic waste into useful products like furniture and tiles. The fascinating thing about Plastiskul, is that it is run by young professionals with experience in the waste industry and who live in the countries heavily impacted by plastic pollution.

    We spoke to Kanika Ahuja about Plastiskul.

    Transcript of interview with Kanika Ahuja, Co-founder of Plastiskul

    • 23 min
    39. A Paris for Plastics? with Christina Dixon from the Environmental Investigation Agency

    39. A Paris for Plastics? with Christina Dixon from the Environmental Investigation Agency

    Environmental Investigation Agency
    United Nations Treaty to End Plastic Pollution

    Get in contact
    peter.hall@pristineocean.global


    You are probably aware of some of the challenges in finding a solution to the plastic crisis the world is facing. 
    3 challenges in no particular order come to mind:
    Challenge 1: Data. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” which certainly applies to  plastic waste management. But we can’t measure it because we don’t have the data about how much plastic is being produced, how much waste is exported, how much imported and after that it becomes a guessing game about how much actually lands in the ocean. 
    Challenge 2: Laws. Packaging companies need a level playing field so that if they improve the environmental friendliness of their products, that this does not put them at a commercial disadvantage. 
    Challenge 3: Finance. Waste management infrastructure will have to be expanded in the countries that can least afford it.
    All these challenges would be complicated enough for one country. But to be effective, all countries need to be aboard. These challenges have to be addressed globally.
    Did you know, that the United Nations is working on a treaty to solve these issues? In March 2022, the UN Member States endorsed the UN Environment Programme 5 which is a resolution to End Plastic Pollution with the intention to have a full resolution in 2024.
    Today we are talking to someone who is deeply involved in the negotiations to formulate that resolution. She is Christina Dixon from the Environmental Investigation Agency or EIA. She is fighting for the planet.
    We talked about the urgency of the treaty and the similarities to efforts to manage the climate crisis and whether the treaty can be thought of a type of Paris for Plastics.



    Full Interview

    • 26 min
    38. Fair-Trade Plastics with Andrew from Plastics for Change

    38. Fair-Trade Plastics with Andrew from Plastics for Change

    Plastics For Change
    Hasiru Dala


    One day, a waste worker  collecting plastic in his neighborhood in Bangalore in Southern India, was bitten by a dog. He fell ill and was not able to work for the following two weeks.

    His only income was what the local scrap shop paid for what he collected. Without any savings, he was unable to put food on the table placing his family in a precarious position.

    On the other side of the world, brands such as The Body Shop, are willing to pay for recovered plastic to include in their products. But they want plastic to be collected under fair conditions.

    Today we were talking to. Almac from the organization, Plastics for Change.

    He is making a change by applying fair trade principles to the collection of plastic waste in Bangalore.

    Full transcript

    • 20 min
    37. Fishing Nets with Nicole Baker from Net Your Problem

    37. Fishing Nets with Nicole Baker from Net Your Problem

    Net Your Problem
    Nicole Baker

    Dutch Harbor is located in the Aleutian islands, which reach out in an arc into the Bering sea in the north Pacific west of Alaska. It is the home of a fishing industry, which harvests over a billion dollars worth of fish each year.

    Nicole Baker was walking the docks in Dutch Harbor, when she got into a conversation with a fishermen

    Her job as government fish scientist was to monitor fish stocks to ensure that the industry could have a sustainable future.

    The conversation she had with the fishermen was about the problem he was having disposing of the fishing nets that had reached the end of their useful life.

    Now, if we're going to live with plastic, we need to get better at collecting it and getting it to the recycler.

    The recycling rate worldwide is about 8% This is something that we're not very good at. but it's not entirely our fault.

    Recycling is either not available or getting it to the recycler is complicated. Think, for example, that time when you tried to get that Tetra Pak back to the recycling.

    When it comes to fishing gear made of synthetic materials, well, the options are very limited

    After the conversation with the fisherman, Nicole decided to be in the business of collecting fishing nets and bringing them to the recycler.

    I sat down with Nicole and talked with her about her business "Net Your Problem".

    Full transcript.

    • 22 min
    36. The Protectors with Muditha from the Pearl Protectors

    36. The Protectors with Muditha from the Pearl Protectors

    Nurdle Free Lanka Campaign

    X-Press Pearl

    On the 20th of May 2021, a ship called the MV X-Press Pearl, carrying a range of toxic goods, including nitric acid and over 1000 tonnes of plastic pellets, caught fire off the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The world watched in horror. 
    As the crisis unfolded, I remember the feeling of powerlessness as the reports
    came in of a bad situation getting worse and worse. 
    Ultimately, the ship sank while spewing thousands of tonnes of plastic pellets that will
    lurk in the environment for years. 
    With each monsoon,  pellets will pollute the beaches like a bad dream, recurring over
    and over again. 
    To better understand the disaster I had the fortune of meeting Muditha from the Sri Lankan Pearl Protectors. The Pearl Protectors is an advocacy for the ocean. 
    I spoke to Muditha to guide me through the details of what happened and what the
    situation is on the coast today. 


    Full transcription

    • 18 min
    35. Thinking Big with Anssi from River Recycle

    35. Thinking Big with Anssi from River Recycle

    RiverRecycle

    What happens when an entrepreneur with a backgroundin shipbuilding watches, a documentary about rivers transporting trash into theocean and then goes to bed?  
    Well, nothing, actually. Certainly notsleep. Opportunities, problems, solutions swirl around in the entrepreneur'sbrain until finally sleep comes. In the morning, the world is different. In thecase of NC Mikkeller from the company, he rivers recycled that entrepreneur,woke up with a mission to rid the world of plastic pollution.   
    The price tag, a mere $2.5 billion.That seems a lot, but compared to the planned investment in new plasticinfrastructure, a drop in the bucket. I talked to Ansii about when he started, where they are now and what plans he has for the future.   

    Full transcript

    • 22 min

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