in places like utquiagvik, that change is dramatic.eems there's no turning back. ♪ host: plastic bottles are practical, and available everywhere. every minute, one million of them are sold worldwide. the number of bottles produced in a year would be enough to cover the distance from earth to the planet mercury. emptied and thrown away, very few bottles are recycled. most end up in the trash, or in nature. which is a huge problem because plastic takes about 450 years to decompose. the world desperely needs ideasd plastic. we take a look at one in rio de janeiro. ♪ reporter: how can skateboards help rio's largest favela to reduce plastic waste? this question drives canadian arian rayegani, who is realizing his vision of sustainability here, in the midst of thousands of bottle caps. in his improvised open-air workshop, the 28-year-old has declared war on garbage... at least as far as the lids are concerned. arian: i've already gathered 400 kilos of caps. i haven't managed to recycle all of them yet. but things are progressing. reporter: t