 Hey, I'm Atia, and welcome to a new Precious Plastic video. Today I'm going to talk to you about collecting plastic, because collecting plastic is kind of crucial to recycled plastic. I'm going to tell you what it means to collect plastic, how it works around the world, and how we envision a collection system within the Precious Plastic universe. On a daily basis we buy, use and generate a lot of plastic waste. And once this plastic is used, there are usually companies and organizations taking care of collecting it from your home and taking it to further processing. How this collection system works very much depends on where you live, but normally a truck swings by, collects your trash, and brings it to a processing plant. And that's where the problem begins. The plastic reaching the processing plants is usually of very poor quality, as it is dirty and unsorted. At this point, there are two scenarios facing your plastic. In the first case, it gets recycled. It goes through very complex, time-consuming, energy-intensive processes, which most countries don't even have. The second-much-fear scenario sees companies going through the much dirtier paths, which means sending the plastic to somewhere in Asia and hoping for the best, sending it to landfills, burning, or dumping it into the ocean. And in case you need reminding, these are all horrible ways of dealing with plastic, which brings environmental destruction, social oppression, and a very dim future. Unfortunately, nowadays most plastics still take the second path. We are in 2020 and still less than 10% of all plastic gets recycled. And this is valid both for developing countries as well as for developed countries, which are the biggest producer of plastic waste in the planet. These collection systems are financially unsustainable and need to be subsidized by the state through taxpayers' money. And on top of that, collection systems worldwide are not standardized. Every country has their own regulations and systems that often change even at the city level. This leaves people confused, having to relearn new systems every time they move or travel, making it difficult to use them properly. There are a number of challenges connected with the collection of plastic. First, the material collector is often unusable as it is mixed and dirty. Second, it is very resource-intensive. Running a fleet of trucks across town 24-7 takes a lot of resources, not to mention all the ships that take your plastic from one place to another. Third, it is financially unsustainable. And lastly, it encourages a throwaway culture that none of us want to support. Precious Plastic Plan focuses on citizens, people just like you, your mom, your friend, your colleague. We want to give people the opportunity to be more involved and engage with their own plastic waste, to be part of the solution. We provide all the necessary information and infrastructures for people to be the tool for change. We know people want to do good. They just don't have the tools and systems yet. Our strategy is to give people all the information they need to properly clean their plastic at home and show them where they can bring it to make sure it is recycled in a sustainable way. At the same time, we will instruct people in our community on how to create collection points all around the world to accept clean plastic from citizens. Connecting people locally on a global scale with one system that you can learn once and use everywhere. Another important aspect of the Precious Plastic approach is that Precious Plastic only collects clean, label-free plastic. With education at its core, Precious Plastic counts on people to collect high-quality material that can actually be recycled. This new approach offers multiple benefits both for people and the environment. First and most important is that the material collector is of high quality. Setting up a collection system that is more local helps to obtain higher quality material that is clean and usable. Second, it stays local. The plastic collector will be recycled and transformed locally in one of the precious plastic workspaces, not shipped across the planet hoping someone can take care of it. Third is education. This approach aims to inform and educate citizens on plastic and how to treat it before disposal. This is a long-term strategy that is quite time-consuming in the beginning, but we believe will pay off in the long run. Fourth, it is powered by people, not governments or companies. So it is resilient, human, and friendlier. So we made a number of different tools for both citizens and people in our community. We made a website for people to know everything that is to know about this new recycling system. We made starter kits with everything you need to know to start collection points. We made a map to connect people locally, a how-to documentation tool to learn from people around the world and their strategies to collect plastic and promotional tools and graphic material to reach out to more people. And on top of this, we also made a little tool to see how much plastic is collected globally in the precious plastic universe. But for all of these to happen and be successful, we need you. There are multiple ways that you can get involved. You can go to the map and find local collection point to bring your plastic. You can start the collection point yourself so people can bring their plastic to you. Or you can just share it around to make sure that people know that this new recycling system even exists. You can find all the information, posters, stickers in the download kit. Next, watch how to set up a collection point and see how the collection point fits in the precious plastic universe. Thank you for watching and see you in the next precious plastic video. Oh, and before you leave, we just wanted to let you know that precious plastic runs on the support and funds for people just like you. Everything we develop is open source online for free. So if you're able and willing to support, visit support.preciousplastic.com to make a donation or find another way you can help.