the, the might seem easy. how much can we do simultaneously? multitasking these, the modern methods. because if we do too much at once, we get it all wrong, mess things up, risking brain damage. so let's stop this self sabotage, humans and multitasking watch now on youtube. v w documentary, the open the lid, pour in the hot water and enjoy all that's left afterwards. use the packaging. what do we do with all the plastic weight? or could we manage without plastic the

welcome to tomorrow to date this land show on dw? well, eagles, i've been a favorite for decades. the japanese version is especially popular among young people. it's known as rom and a super fast food appreciated by busy students. the girls taste and herbs are packaged in plastic. a for an e, you competition, agree for graduate students took on a challenge. could this evening be packaged in something non plastic and edible? maybe x l d 's and i know not actually part of the eggs that we can see, but that's still an important resource for us. because to us they also contain interesting properties that could help us create better food packaging people. that's of the items huffman have for him come with a hard boiled soft, full roll, fix it delivered in that own ideal packaging,

that plentiful every year. germans alone, each $20000000000.00 of them. so team edgy decided to focus its research on itself from the university of horn high and they still got it's one of the best in germany for food science with a life that makes all kinds of experiments possible. the team spent 9 months conducting intensive research into edible packaging. in that time they perfected the formula. it's made of fine, the ground excels. he didn't sanitize to be, i genic a vegetable protein on a binding agent. the exact composition remains a secret of water mix. well then poured into a tray, drying that house in the oven creates a thin film that behaves like a plastic bag. i know the process to go property of the film is that it reacts to heat. it can be fused together of with the contents of an audit. this means that can be sealed into separate portions. it's a very simple product,

a cup of pasta and a seasoning sashay. add hot water on the substrate to solve in a split 2nd stove. it all together, and that's it. and environmentally friendly snack? without plastic waste winning edgy the 1st prize and the competition. the size of the packaging succeed in retail food markets. i would say the chances are 5050 right now. the situation is quite favorable because companies are looking for new solutions. and this is an interesting solution into the front of those on the students. the already hoping to get a commercial partner with a view to funding that really still tap a sign until the following day. it was great to eat my 1st bought needles with all the packaging packs, and evidently sustainable noodles sleep create, sustains satisfaction. the

we use it for food, water bottles, detergent, plastic is everywhere. but what is plastic exactly? what is it made up? and why does it stay in the environment for so long? it's of material that's been part of our lives since we were born. cheap stereo and practical plastic has assumed various roles over the decades as toys, accessory use, utility products, and the dream for innovative designers. plastics consist of large molecules called polymers which are generally manufactured from mineral oil. the oil is broken down into its constituent components, which are then recombined to create synthetic polymer change. the new material has very special qualities which might robust and can be molded into

practically any stream you want. but plastics not as easy to dispose of this instead of polymers are almost impossible to break down and degrees extremely slow . they some need 500 to a 1000 years to fully decompose plastic cell, great from an acid production. but not all of them are made for an oil. the some polymers are naturally occurring and are used to make bio plastic, cohen, sugarcane and cellulose can be chemically converted into my regular change with comfortable properties to boil derived plastics. the degree easier and even if it takes them time to do so, there's obviously a need for non fossil basic solutions. 90

percent of plastics are manufactured from oil. the amount recycled corps qualifying is bio plastic, is not even 10 percent. so where does the plastics that doesn't get recycled and done? a lot of it enters our rivers and from there it's carried out to see our oceans are drowning implants. a team of scientists is analyzing what happens to the plastic left in the water. these plastic tanks have been floating around in this water for almost 2 years now and they'll be there for at least another 8. 1 of the tanks is filled with fresh water. the oven with c o 10. you can see is encoded with quite a layer of salt sea water, a certainly having an effect because it's part of a long term study being conducted at the university in easton, gemini, and bodies of glee. in this experiment, we're looking to see how plastic still composed in water that in particular cuz we

want to know whether they can be recycled after by young and water for years. just like i said, the researches from knock to books, university of applied sciences are especially interested in what long term goal to exposure does to normal everyday. plastic waste, how does it change its structure? how the surface is affected? the demonic is generally we concerned with what the material does to the eco system, the water. but we're looking at what the water does 12 plastic. can we really get it out of the water and use it again because the deaf office address the plastic is being exposed to natural influences in as many different environments as possible. these types of been floating in the baltics that 18 months does not. what does it play as a bond pocono of your home, but we also have 5 ohms out them and that see, because you can't recreate that interaction with miss austin. me the,

the team of scientists hoping for lots of new insights, ones that will help us to better find the growing title, ways of plastic in our oceans. new studies and warning of an exponential rise in the amount of trash, you know, seeds by 2050. that could be more plastic then fish in the see if in pool. yeah. every year, a total of about $300000000.00 metric tons of plastic is produced to be in this see me at least $10000000.00 tons end up in our ocean. so that's the united nation is estimate. and you could say a truckload of plastic is dumped into the sea every single minute you have like a kept plastic can take hundreds of years to break down. it's practically invincible. in water,

it decomposes slowly into micro plastic and then often it's not. it sinks down into the depths, the sea and shits. the fits estimated that already 80 percent of plastic is already lying on the see bed and can no longer being removed except thought they would get eaten by worms and all kinds of organisms organism and want to create. in short, said lions back in our plates by the food chain via the fish we don't can, i can attend up, become many green organizations trying to break this vicious circle. the ocean clean up is probably the best known project. it uses floating structures to capture marine, which one is one ocean is consuming a similar goal using phones to gather up the plastic, salted, and recycle it. then that is the of a wave project which involves trying to remove alicia from rivers before it can

even get to the si se puede, the plane of heat and fire. on the one hand these projects raise awareness of the issue. warning us about our use of plastic dom queen stuff and fuck, i'm going to it's on same on the other. they are a drop in the ocean and shine by to the defense magnet and quin store. we are currently dumping into the seas can be removed by any project or with any technology in the world and how school with that and kind of michelle spike, it agrees. but he's determined to do something to of the plastic, as well as the big projects service small businesses like his attempting to recycle, marine the to he and his team produce rucksacks made completely of plastic from the ocean. this affiliate, there are already a lot of great projects out there thinking the more the better. and we think that all these projects combine are also having an effect on the environment. it was

in the philippines, some 100 people got the plastic from the waters off, one of the onto pilot goes on and the pacific ocean throws up a lot of trash on the beach is here. most of the plastic has only been in the water for a few weeks or months because we can recycle about 20 percent of the other. 80 percent is made up of plastic coated wrapping paper. you can recycle that anywhere in the world, including germany. they are incinerating, this is the only currently existing way of getting rid of these materials. only lorraine, that's if i'm close to the beach. it's used to make his rock sucks, as it's unclear how suitable plastic is this been out at sea for years. in the future science consent new lights on that fucking mocked or bug experiments currently being carried out until 5 much time as much as the so i'm i know the material is so contaminated for the cleaning and preparing it to

get to a point that it could be turned into something new. it's so much effort to 1000 the chances of sight in this trash of the songs. on the middle of this research on maureen nature, they say it's important to them. one thing in mind now is the stuff missed the message, the message can be no problem. we can recycle it. we comp that's, that's done. it shouldn't end up the in the 1st place being blocked on that stuff done mission on. and we will need to keep on researching over the next few years to find out what we can do with the plastic. if it does end up that the, the ideal solution for the world's waste problem would be a plastic eating pac man. need a huge appetite, be able to eat fast and digest plastics like p t that's used for water bottles. amazingly, scientists have discovered an enzyme that can do just that. researchers in

the city of leipzig have found an enzyme that breaks down plastic very fast. but to work it has to be heated between 60 and 70 degrees celsius. christiane and son and dick, his team believes biotechnology holds the key to our plastic problem. yes, all. and we look at how nature does things and then copy it. and not a tree uses enzymes to break down polymers. so that's what we're doing it. so the team heads down to one of the live 6 main cemeteries. this is where they found their enzyme on a compost heap. let's see what we find. the researches identified an enzyme that decomposes leaves and it can also break down p t plastic. so a lot the south, no irvings have a wax like coding formed by an outer layer of computing, which is a polyester. and if that's a polymer that's built up via esther bonds,

just like with p t o by fusing buick and stuff. and this is the same for many bio plastics to eat. and semi enzymes are so non specific that they can recognize and breakdown of broader spectrum of polyesters. and that's designed, that's the advantage we're lucky to have a biological answer to our plastic problem opens up plastic covering for christie and design and decor. showed us how fast the enzyme works as long as it's capped at 60 to 70 degrees celsius. the p t packaging dissolves completely in one day. all that remains is the basic building blocks. the enzyme was lucky, fine for the researchers. we have all the paid show 7, see which stands for polyester, hydrolyzed slide $600.00 on the 7th candidate out of the 9 that we found out that was the best performing enzyme. and this is what it looks like. they produced a 3 d printed model to show how the reaction works. i mean,

it seems the enzyme and here's the key chain with the esther bonds. the links that will be broken, the man's i'm comes like a pac man, and it goes off the individual ester bonds, leading the basic building blocks tara folic acid and ethylene glycol. and from them we can make new plastics. i was coming. i mean, i'm always plastic christy on an deck, his team have now moved on to the next step. they want to modify the enzymes dna so that each plastic even faster. to do this, they're experimenting with many different modifications. to analyze each variant individually. selecting the most efficient ones for further study, they're also turning to modern technology and artificial intelligence to help bio technologist ronnie frank is assisting them. so give on it's on. i don't want to scale up our technology. so we have our new prototype here that will allow us to analyze around $100.00 ends. i'm samples at once,

and we're studying multiple layers at the same time. can i get the ones to document that will generate the data? we need to feed our a. i to then train it to identify new, improved enzymes that can break down plastic. they're analyzing thousands of enzymes each day in search of a super enzyme and they have a larger vision to yeah, well, any manufacture ultimately what to get the market to work more with polyester likes that are easy to break down with enzymes and damage that will allow us to develop really efficient circular economies in good enough for you, and we have no alternative because right now we can cope with the plastic waste of money. so we're looking to the future and we're having a vision of recycling. plastic waste, sustainable fluid is also not high different. so i think the most plastic is made from crude oil, which was produced long before we came along. our norful keentonia from el salvador . send us a question about that. how is crude oil made crude

oil wouldn't be possible without the smouldering animals and puffs clinton itself just food for sea creatures. the petroleum being extracted today, formed over millions of years, and tiny creatures just like these. as soon as clinton dies, it sinks to the bottom of the sea. since there is fairly any oxygen at great to depth the plant and does not to k. instead it mixes with different settlements, like clay and found on the sea, but the settlements flowed from rivers into the ocean. together with y'all got it clinton, they form decaying sludge, the souls for real petroleum. over the course of 10000 to several 1000000 years. settlement trulia is stuck on top of each other, becoming hundreds of meat as high. this process increases the pressure on the

petroleum sole salt and raises the temperature. when the temperature reaches 80 degrees celsius, the petroleum sol stroke begins to transform the loan chain hydrocarbons that make it up. but he can to show to chains. this process is known as cracking the fine grains digested sludge transforms into viscous crude oil. what are the most complex organic compounds on our planet to extreme pressure of force is the oil out of the rock. it my great stock boards and collects but need empower people. they use the salt, mostly defined plate, creating an oil deposit today about 15000000000 liters of black gold are extracted from deposits every day. new crude oil is still forming all the time. as long as there is clinton, the substances needed to form petroleum. but it wouldn't be ready for millions of use. the petroleum has

been hiring industry for the past 150 years and driving climate change to electricity is one alternative. but electric cars, for example, need rechargeable batteries, and they're still full of precious raw materials. so scientists are looking into how to recycle them efficiently, the black box, and inside chunks of old batteries. they might not look like it, but they're very valuable. inside are lots of rare metals, including the much sought after lithium. the company are correct and safe out germany has been recycling old batteries from across europe for more than 20 years. engineer diagnose like a is a battery recycling? probably in here t things. battery recycling has attempt to potential and

not fix the market is used right now. but relatively few batteries are being returned because many countries still don't have the collection infrastructure. the contacts cause the awareness of how batteries are collected for recycling is not very pronounced here in germany. either. this is within the best so some other countries have higher collection rates. i see that, but lots of batteries get mixed in with electronic waste or they were exported in such a way that we're not able to trace their route just enough. and so it does, so the overall return rates are pretty bad. decent is in fact less than half of all batteries get recycled. that causes big problems for recyclers. there's not enough demand to build the recycling machines needed to carry out the process. in this pilot plant depleted lithium batteries are being heated to 550 degree celsius design. the ones i said, we develop this treasure here ourselves. and it's

a pilot plant, a larger one that will go into operation in a few weeks. the plants like this one don't exist anywhere on earth to get this means that batteries have only been on the market for 5 to 10 years. since the same demand for them went up quickly and now they're being recycled to the recycling itself is still very young. and that's why pilot plans like this one are enormously important if you want to recycle on a large scale and it goes from last up to visit to large amounts of lithium ion batteries will be ready for recycling. these gold colored crumbs are clay minerals used to safely store lithium ion batteries, which are prone to catching on fire. sorting batteries is still laborious. manual work, their components are very different. but from the outside, they're virtually indiscernible. there is no description of which chemicals are inside, so each battery is a unique surprise. right next door

recyclers are working on a destroyed car battery. it might still have some residual charging it. that's why special high voltage electricians are at work here. engineer i know so like a says it's worth the effort due to the value of the coveted contents. been a lot of this, if we just focus on the metal lithium, it's one of the metals that's most available on the planet, but it's very finely distributed across the earth's crust. find a tight in the costa. here we get the material for free. inside the lithium batteries, concentration of 234, or 5 percent finalize, puts in one test. and so these are of course, and easily accessible source of a home austin not to wipe distracted very laboriously from nature when i can get it free of charge when recycling fly, it can be thought lithium. recycling may soon become big business,

but at the moment it's still in the pioneering phase 2 but to the company itself. that's the use of the batteries i've just come out of paralysis where we've removed the plastic, send it to use it was coming to him and of i'm not so yeah, we're left with the material mix of metals like steel aluminum, copper, and black mass. meaning we now have to separate those metals as fonts, muscle to be, we're working closely together with our w t h off and on that is the height, awesome to them are w t h often is one of the leading institutes in germany when it comes to recycling use batteries. the scientists like pose up on i develop recycling concepts for all types of use batteries, including this used ion battery. the coveted raw material is in the black dust between the thing copper foils. the 1st step is grinding it all into a fine powder. thoughts is the uh,

the black part would be active mass, also known as black mask, contains all the valuable materials that you make up a battery lease from lithium to nickel cobalt to gratified it. all of which are extremely rare, but critical according to your opinion standard. so thinking that's why it's very, very important that we can extract the individual elements out of the black mass of them into currently 16 p h. d, p. c's are being written simultaneously on lithium recycling. libya and teresa had specialized in what is known as hydro metallurgy. in this process, the black masses skirt into a water the lithium dissolves into the water, but the other metals do not, which makes them easy to filter out. liliana, reese transforms the black broth into a clear solution. around 90 percent of the lithium contains in the black mass gets recovered this way. it's laboratory work on the verge of becoming an industrial

process. lithium in the go to here, it's i own and then we can recover it from the solution. using environmentally friendly process is like membrane technology. your ion exchange is when we do that the, let's see, and we get, looks like this. you see a white powder, which is lithium carbonate, a products that can be sold in this form that can then be used in the production of new batteries. scientists and industry are predicting that that will be the case in the coming years. extracting elements like graphite, copper, iron, nickel, and cobalt, some old batteries is way past the laboratory phase. now the focus is on extracting lithium industrially. the white gold of the green energy transition. blood is red. why do you have a science question?

send it to us as a video, text or voice message. if we answer it on the show will send you a little surprises the thank you. so come on just as the pencil for this week's edition of tomorrow today. joining us again next week for more science stories until then state curious by the the, the, the

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