A plan to recycle the unrecyclable | Ashton Cofer

Translator: Made Pramana Reviewer: Deera Army Pramana

Suatu ketika di hari Sabtu yang tenang.

Ayahku sedang memotong rumput di halaman,

ibuku sedang melipat pakaian,

saudariku sedang mengerjakan PR di kamarnya,

It was just an ordinary Saturday.

dan aku sedang bermain gim video di ruang bawah tanah.

My dad was outside mowing the lawn,

Ketika aku naik ke atas dan mengambil minuman,

my mom was upstairs folding laundry,

aku melihat ke jendela,

my sister was in her room doing homework

dan menyadari ada sesuatu yang seharusnya kulakukan,

and I was in the basement playing video games.

dan inilah yang kulihat.

And as I came upstairs to get something to drink,

I looked out the window

Bukan hidangan makan malam keluargaku yang sedang terbakar.

and realized that there was something that I was supposed to be doing,

Ini adalah proyek sainsku.

and this is what I saw.

Api berkobar,

No, this wasn't my family's dinner on fire.

asap membubung di udara,

dan dek kayu kami hampir terbakar.

This was my science project.

Aku langsung berteriak.

Ibuku terlihat panik,

Flames were pouring out,

smoke was in the air

ayahku berlari memadamkan api,

and it looked like our wooden deck was about to catch fire.

dan saudariku merekam video Snapchat.

I immediately started yelling.

(Tawa)

My mom was freaking out,

my dad ran around to put out the fire

Ini adalah awal dari proyek sains milik timku.

and of course my sister started recording a Snapchat video.

Timku terdiri dari aku dan tiga murid lain

(Laughter)

yang sekarang juga hadir di sini.

This was just the beginning of my team's science project.

Kami berlomba di FIRST LEGO League,

kompetisi robot LEGO internasional untuk anak-anak.

My team is composed of me and three other students

Selain lomba robot tadi,

who are here in the audience today.

kami juga mengerjakan proyek sains lain,

We competed in FIRST LEGO League

dan inilah proyek yang kami kerjakan.

which is an international LEGO robotics competition for kids,

Jadi, ide untuk proyek ini muncul

and in addition to a robotics game,

ketika beberapa bulan lalu,

we also worked on a separate science project,

beberapa anggota timku bepergian ke Amerika Tengah

and this was the project that we were working on.

dan melihat pantai yang tercemar stirofoam,

So the idea for this project all started

atau busa polistirena.

when a few months earlier,

Saat mereka kembali dan menceritakannya,

a couple of my teammates took a trip to Central America

kami mulai memikirkan penggunaan stirofoam sehari-hari.

and saw beaches littered with Styrofoam,

or expanded polystyrene foam.

Baru beli TV layar datar?

Kamu dapat balok stirofoam yang lebih besar dari TV.

And when they came back and told us about it,

we really started thinking about the ways in which we see Styrofoam every day.

Membeli segelas kopi?

Gelas kopi stirofam tentunya akan menumpuk.

Get a new flat-screen TV?

You end up with a block of Styrofoam bigger than the TV itself.

Ke mana semua benda ini pergi setelah sekali dipakai?

Karena belum ada solusi yang bagus untuk stirofoam bekas,

Drink a cup of coffee?

Well, those Styrofoam coffee cups are sure going to add up.

hampir semuanya berakhir di tempat pembuangan akhir,

And where do all these items go after their one-time use?

atau di laut dan pantai,

dan perlu 500 tahun untuk terurai.

Since there aren't any good existing solutions for used Styrofoam,

Faktanya, setiap tahun, AS saja

almost all of them end up right in the landfill,

memproduksi lebih dari 900 juta kilogram stirofoam,

or the oceans and beaches,

memenuhi 25 persen dari tempat pembuangan.

taking over 500 years to degrade.

Kenapa kita punya tumpukan limbah stirofoam ini?

And in fact, every year, the US alone

produces over two billion pounds of Styrofoam,

Kenapa kita tidak mendaurulangnya seperti halnya plastik?

filling up a staggering 25 percent of landfills.

Singkatnya, polistirena hasil daur ulang sangatlah mahal

So why do we have these ghost accumulations of Styrofoam waste?

dan berpotensi terkontaminasi,

jadi ada sangat sedikit permintaan daur ulang stirofoam.

Why can't we just recycle them like many plastics?

Well, simply put, recycled polystyrene is too expensive

Akibatnya, stirofoam dianggap sebagai material yang tidak bisa didaur ulang,

and potentially contaminated,

karena tidak gampang mendaur ulang polistirena.

so there is very little market demand for Styrofoam that has to be recycled.

And as a result, Styrofoam is considered a nonrenewable material,

Faktanya, banyak kota di AS

telah membuat peraturan

because it is neither feasible nor viable to recycle polystyrene.

yang melarang produksi barang yang mengandung polistirena,

termasuk alat makan sekali pakai,

And in fact, many cities across the US

kacang pengepakan, wadah pembungkus makanan,

have even passed ordinances

that simply ban the production of many products containing polystyrene,

dan bahkan mainan pantai berbahan plastik,

semua produk itu berguna bagi masyarakat.

which includes disposable utensils,

Saat ini, Prancis menjadi negara pertama

packing peanuts, takeout containers

yang melarang pemakaian alat makan plastik,

and even plastic beach toys,

gelas, dan piring plastik.

all products that are very useful in today's society.

Tetapi, bagaimana jika kita tetap memakai stirofoam

And now France has become the first country

dan terus memanfaatkan sifatnya yang murah, ringan, menginsulasi,

to completely ban all plastic utensils,

cups and plates.

dan kemampuan membungkus yang bagus,

namun tidak mengalami dampak negatif

But what if we could keep using Styrofoam

and keep benefiting from its cheap, lightweight, insulating

dari limbah pembuangannya?

Apa jadinya bila kita bisa mengubahnya menjadi benda lain yang bermanfaat?

and excellent packing ability,

Apa jadinya jika kita bisa melakukan hal yang mustahil?

while not having to suffer from the repercussions

of having to dispose of it?

Tim saya menduga bahwa kita bisa memakai karbon yang ada dalam stirofoam

What if we could turn it into something else that's actually useful?

What if we could make the impossible possible?

untuk membuat karbon aktif,

yang digunakan di saringan air.

My team hypothesized that we could use the carbon that's already in Styrofoam

Karbon aktif bekerja dengan memakai mikropori yang sangat kecil

untuk menyaring kontaminan dari air atau bahkan udara.

to create activated carbon,

which is used in almost every water filter today.

Jadi, kami memulainya dengan berbagai macam tes pemanasan,

And activated carbon works by using very small micropores

dan sayangnya, kami berulang kali gagal.

to filter out contaminants from water or even air.

Tidak ada yang berhasil.

So we started out by doing a variety of heating tests,

Selain panggangan ayah saya terbakar,

and unfortunately, we had many failures.

hampir seluruh sampel kami menguap,

atau meledak di dalam tungku pembakaran yang mahal,

Literally, nothing worked.

meninggalkan kotoran lengket.

Besides my dad's grill catching on fire,

Sesungguhnya kami sangat sedih hingga kami hampir menyerah.

most of our samples vaporized into nothing,

or exploded inside expensive furnaces,

Lalu, mengapa kami terus mencoba

leaving a horribly sticky mess.

meski semua orang dewasa menganggapnya mustahil?

In fact, we were so saddened by our failures that we almost gave up.

Mungkin karena kami hanya anak-anak. Kami tidak tahu apa-apa.

Namun, kami terus berusaha karena kami pikir hal ini memungkinkan.

So why did we keep trying

when all the adults said it was impossible?

Kami tahu bahwa bila kami sukses,

Well, maybe it's because we're kids. We don't know any better.

kami akan membantu lingkungan dan membuat dunia menjadi lebih baik.

But the truth is, we kept trying because we thought it was still possible.

Jadi, kami terus mencoba

dan gagal

We knew that if we were successful,

dan mencoba

we would be helping the environment and making the world a better place.

dan gagal.

Kami sudah siap untuk menyerah.

So we kept trying

Lalu terjadilah.

and failing

Dengan suhu, waktu, dan zat kimia yang tepat,

and trying

and failing.

kami akhirnya berhasil

We were so ready to give up.

dan menciptakan karbon aktif dari limbah stirofoam.

But then it happened.

With the right temperatures, times and chemicals,

Dan pada momen itu, sesuatu yang dianggap mustahil

we finally got that successful test result

tiba-tiba tak lagi mustahil.

showing us that we had created activated carbon from Styrofoam waste.

Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa meskipun kami banyak gagal di awal,

kami tetap bertahan untuk mendapat hasil yang kami inginkan.

And at that moment, the thing that had been impossible

all of a sudden wasn't.

Terlebih, tidak hanya kami mampu menciptakan karbon aktif

It showed us that although we had many failures at the beginning,

untuk menyaring air,

tetapi kami juga mampu mengurangi limbah stirofoam,

we were able to persevere through them to get the test results that we wanted.

menyelesaikan dua masalah global hanya dengan satu solusi.

And moreover, not only were we able to create activated carbon

Jadi, sejak itu kami terinspirasi untuk melanjutkan proyek kami,

for purifying water,

but we were also able to reduce Styrofoam waste,

melakukan lebih banyak tes agar lebih efektif

dan mencobanya di situasi nyata.

solving two global problems with just one solution.

Kemudian, kami menerima bantuan dana

So from then on, we were inspired to take our project further,

dari NSTA’s eCYBERMISSION STEM-in-Action program

performing more tests to make it more effective

yang disponsori oleh Militer AS,

and testing it in real world situations.

serta FIRST Global Innovation Awards

We then proceeded to receive funding

yang disponsori oleh XPRIZE.

from the NSTA's eCYBERMISSION STEM-in-Action program

Kami juga mendapat penghargaan Scientific American Innovator Award

sponsored by the US Army,

as well as FIRST Global Innovation Awards

dari Google Science Fair.

Dengan dana ini, kami berencana untuk membuat paten

sponsored by XPRIZE.

And we were also honored

with the Scientific American Innovator Award

dan terus melanjutkan proyek kami.

Jadi ya, meskipun kami mulai dengan membakar panggangan ayah saya

from Google Science Fair.

And using these funds, we plan to file a full patent on our process

dan berkali-kali gagal hingga kami hampir berhenti,

and to continue to work on our project.

hal itu sangat setimpal saat kita renungkan kembali.

So yes, although we started with catching my dad's grill on fire

Kami mengambil sebuah masalah yang banyak orang kira mustahil

and failing so many times that we almost quit,

dan kami membuatnya mungkin,

dan kami bertahan meski kami terlihat tidak akan berhasil.

it was well worth it when we look back at it now.

Kami belajar bahwa kamu tidak bisa sukses

We took a problem that many people said was impossible

tanpa sedikit,

and we made it possible,

atau banyak kegagalan.

and we persevered when it looked like nothing that we did would work.

Jadi, di masa depan, jangan khawatir apabila pangganganmu terbakar,

We learned that you can't have success

karena kamu tidak pernah tahu kapan idemu menyala.

without a little,

or a lot, of failure.

So in the future, don't be afraid if your grill goes up in flames,

Terima kasih.

(Tepuk tangan)

because you never know when your idea might just catch fire.

Thank you.

(Applause)