Mike Biddle: We can recycle plastic

Translator: Helena Bedalli Reviewer: Amantia Gjikondi

I'm a garbage man.

Une merrem me plehrat.

And you might find it interesting that I became a garbage man,

Mund t'ju duket interesante qe u bera plehraxhi,

because I absolutely hate waste.

sepse i urrej mbeturinat.

I hope, within the next 10 minutes,

Shpresoj, qe ne 10 minutat qe vijne,

to change the way you think

t'ju nderroj mendjen

about a lot of the stuff in your life.

per nje shumice gjerash ne jeten tuaj.

And I'd like to start at the very beginning.

Dëshiroj të filloj nga fillimi.

Think back when you were just a kid.

Mendoni kur ju ishit vetëm nje fëmi.

How did look at the stuff in your life?

Si i shikoni gjërat në jetën tuaj?

Perhaps it was like these toddler rules:

Ndoshta ishte si këto rregullat e te vegjëlve:

It's my stuff if I saw it first.

Është e imja nëse unë e pashë atë i pari.

The entire pile is my stuff if I'm building something.

I tërë grumbulli është i imi në se unë po ndërtoj diçka.

The more stuff that's mine, the better.

Më shumë gjëra të mijat aq më mirë.

And of course, it's your stuff if it's broken.

Dhe natyrisht, gjerat tuaja nëse janë te prishura.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

Well after spending about 20 years in the recycling industry,

E pra pasi shpenzova rreth 20 vjet në industrinë e riciklimit,

it's become pretty clear to me

mu be shume e qarte

that we don't necessarily leave these toddler rules behind

qe nuk i leme pas medoemos keto rregulla femijesh

as we develop into adults.

kur rritemi.

And let me tell you why I have that perspective.

Dhe më lejoni t'ju them se pse e kam këtë perspektivë.

Because each and every day

Sepse cdo dite e me teper

at our recycling plants around the world

në fabrikat tona te riciklimit në mbarë botën

we handle about one million pounds

ne trajtojmë rreth 450 ton

of people's discarded stuff.

gjëra të hedhura.

Now a million pounds a day sounds like a lot of stuff,

Tani 450 ton në ditë tingëllon si shumë,

but it's a tiny drop of the durable goods

por ajo është një pikë e vogël e mallrave

that are disposed each and every year around the world --

që hidhen çdo vit në botë -

well less than one percent.

dhe më pak se një përqind.

In fact, the United Nations estimates

Në fakt, Kombet e Bashkuara vlerëson

that there's about 85 billion pounds a year

qe ka mbi 40 milion ton ne vit

of electronics waste

mbeturina elektronike

that gets discarded around the world each and every year --

që hidhen poshtë çdo vit në botë

and that's one of the most rapidly growing parts of our waste stream.

dhe kjo është një nga pjesët me rritje më të shpejtë të rrymës së mbeturinave.

And if you throw in other durable goods like automobiles and so forth,

Dhe nëse ju hidhni mallra të tjera të qëndrueshme si makina etj,

that number well more than doubles.

ky numer dyfishohet.

And of course, the more developed the country,

Pa dyshim, sa me i zhvilluar vendi,

the bigger these mountains.

aq me i madh malli i plehrave.

Now when you see these mountains,

Kur i sheh keto male,

most people think of garbage.

me e shumta e njerezve i shohin si plehra

We see above-ground mines.

Ne i shohim si miniera mbi toke.

And the reason we see mines is because there's a lot of valuable raw materials

Dhe arsyeja qe ne i shohim si miniera eshte se ka plot lende te pare te vlefshme

that went into making all of this stuff in the first place.

që perdoren për t'i prodhuar këto gjera.

And it's becoming increasingly important

Dhe po bëhet gjithnjë e më e rëndësishme

that we figure out how to extract these raw materials

të gjejme se si të nxjerrim këto lëndë të para

from these extremely complicated waste streams.

nga rrjedhat shumë të komplikuara të mbeturinave.

Because as we've heard all week at TED,

Sepse sic e degjuam gjithe javen ne TED,

the world's getting to be a smaller place with more people in it

bota po behet nje vend me i vogel me me shume njerez ne te

who want more and more stuff.

qe duan gjithnje e me shume gjera.

And of course, they want the toys and the tools

Dhe pa dyshim, ata duan lodrat dhe mjetet

that many of us take for granted.

qe shume nga ne i marrim si te mireqena.

And what goes into making those toys and tools

Dhe cfare duhet qe te behen keto lodra dhe mjete

that we use every single day?

qe perdorim cdo dite?

It's mostly many types of plastics and many types of metals.

Kryesisht disa lloje plastikash dhe disa lloje metalesh.

And the metals, we typically get

Metalet i perftojme

from ore that we mine

nga mineralet qe nxjerrim

in ever widening mines

duke hapur miniera

and ever deepening mines around the world.

e duke thelluar edhe me minierat rreth botes.

And the plastics, we get from oil,

Plastiken e bejme nga nafta,

which we go to more remote locations

per te cilen shkojme edhe me larg

and drill ever deeper wells to extract.

dhe shpojme puse edhe me te thelle qe ta nxjerrim.

And these practices have

Keto praktika kane

significant economic and environmental implications

pasoja te rendesishme ekonomike dhe ambientale

that we're already starting to see today.

qe kemi filluar t'i shikojme tashme.

The good news is we are starting to recover materials from our end-of-life stuff

Nje lajm i mire eshte qe kemi filluar ti rimarrim materialet nga gjerat qe hedhim

and starting to recycle our end-of-life stuff,

dhe te riciklojme gjerat qe hedhim,

particularly in regions of the world like here in Europe

vecanerisht ne pjese te botes si ketu ne Evrope

that have recycling policies in place

te cilat kane ne fuqi politika te riciklimit

that require that this stuff be recycled

qe kerkojne qe keto gjera te riciklohen

in a responsible manner.

ne menyre te pergjegjshme.

Most of what's extracted from our end-of-life stuff,

Shumica e asaj që eshte nxjerre nga hedhurinat,

if it makes it to a recycler, are the metals.

nese arrijne ta riciklojme, jane metalet.

To put that in perspective --

Për t'a vënë atë në perspektivë--

and I'm using steel as a proxy here for metals,

po përdor çelikun këtu si perfaqesues për metalet,

because it's the most common metal --

sepse eshte metali me i zakonshem --

if your stuff makes it to a recycler,

nese gjerat arrijne te riciklohen,

probably over 90 percent of the metals

mbase mbi 90 përqind të metaleve

are going to be recovered and reused for another purpose.

do te rikuperohen dhe riperdoren per dicka tjeter.

Plastics are a whole other story:

Plastikat jane histori tjeter:

well less than 10 percent are recovered.

me pak se 10 perqind rikuperohet.

In fact, it's more like five percent.

Ne fakt, kjo eshte me shume si 5 perqind.

Most of it's incinerated or landfilled.

Shumica digjet ose shkarkohet.

Now most people think that's because plastics are a throw-away material,

Shumica e njerezve besojne se kjo ndodh ngaqe plastika eshte material i hedhshem,

have very little value.

ka vlere shume te vogel.

But actually, plastics are several times more valuable than steel.

Por ne fakt, plastikat jane 3-4 here me te vlefshme se celiku.

And there's more plastics produced and consumed

Dhe prodhohet e konsumohet me teper plastike

around the world on a volume basis

per nga volumi ne bote

every year than steel.

cdo vit, sesa celik.

So why is such a plentiful and valuable material

Pra, pse nje material kaq i vlefshem dhe i bollshem

not recovered at anywhere near the rate

nuk rikuperohet aspak prane nivelit

of the less valuable material?

te nje materiali me pak te vlefshem?

Well it's predominantly because

Eshte kryesisht sepse

metals are very easy to recycle

metalet jane te kollajshem te riciklohen

from other materials and from one another.

nga materialet e tjera dhe nga njera-tjetra.

They have very different densities.

Ato kane dendesi te ndryshme.

They have different electrical and magnetic properties.

Ata kane vecori te ndryshme elektrike dhe magnetike.

And they even have different colors.

Kane ngjyra te ndryshme.

So it's very easy for either humans or machines

Keshtu qe eshte shume e lehte qofte per njerezit apo makinat

to separate these metals

ti ndajne keto metale

from one another and from other materials.

nga njeri tjetri dhe nga materialet e tjera.

Plastics have overlapping densities over a very narrow range.

Dendesite e plastikave variojne shume pak nga njera tjetra.

They have either identical or very similar

Ato kane veti te njejta ose shume te ngjashme

electrical and magnetic properties.

elektrike dhe magnetike.

And any plastic can be any color,

Plastika mund te jete ne cdo njgjyre

as you probably well know.

ju e dini shume mire.

So the traditional ways of separating materials

Keshtu metodat tradicionale te ndarjes se materialeve

just simply don't work for plastics.

nuk funksionojne per plastikat.

Another consequence of metals being so easy to recycle by humans

Nje pasoje tjeter e faktit qe metalet jane te lehta per riciklim

is that a lot of our stuff from the developed world --

eshte se shume nga gjerat nga bota e zhvilluar

and sadly to say, particularly from the United States,

dhe e them me keqardhje, vecanerisht nga Sh.B.A,

where we don't have any recycling policies in place like here in Europe --

ku nuk jane ne fuqi procedurat e riciklimit si ketu ne Evrope--

finds its way to developing countries

perfundojne ne vendet ne zhvillim

for low-cost recycling.

per riciklim me kosto te ulet.

People, for as little as a dollar a day, pick through our stuff.

Njerezit, per me pak se nje dollar ne dite, germojne ne grumbullin tone.

They extract what they can, which is mostly the metals --

Ata nxjerrin cfare te mundin, kryesisht metalet--

circuit boards and so forth --

qarqet e stampuara e keshtu me radhe--

and they leave behind mostly what they can't recover,

dhe lene mbrapa ato qe s'arrijne ti marrin,

which is, again, mostly the plastics.

qe jane, prape, kryesisht plastikat.

Or they burn the plastics to get to the metals

Ose i djegin plastikat te nxjerrin metalet

in burn houses like you see here.

ne shtepite e djegura si keto qe shihni.

And they extract the metals by hand.

Dhe i nxjerrin metalet me duar.

Now while this may be the low-economic-cost solution,

Ndersa kjo mund te jete zgjidhja me kosto te ulet,

this is certainly not the low-environmental

kjo pa dyshim nuk eshte zgjidhja me impakt me te ulet ambjental

or human health-and-safety solution.

apo ndaj shendetit dhe sigurise se njerezve.

I call this environmental arbitrage.

Une kesaj i them, te besh pazar me ambjentin.

And it's not fair, it's not safe

Kjo nuk eshte e drejte, eshte e pasigurt

and it's not sustainable.

dhe nuk eshte e qendrueshme.

Now because the plastics are so plentiful --

Ngaqe plastikat jane me bollek--

and by the way,

dhe meqe ra fjala,

those other methods don't lead to the recovery of plastics, obviously --

eshte e qarte qe, ato metodat e tjera nuk ndihmojne per rikuperimin e plastikave,

but people do try to recover the plastics.

por njerezit perpiqen ti rikuperojne plastikat.

This is just one example.

Ky eshte vetem nje shembull.

This is a photo I took standing on the rooftops

Kjo eshte nje foto qe bera kur qendroja ne maje te cative

of one of the largest slums in the world in Mumbai, India.

te njeres nga lagjet e varfra me te medha ne bote ne Mumbai, Indi.

They store the plastics on the roofs.

Ata e magazinojne plastiken mbi cati.

They bring them below those roofs into small workshops like these,

I sjellin ne keto punishtet si keto,

and people try very hard to separate the plastics,

dhe njerezit perpiqen shume ti vecojne plastikat,

by color, by shape, by feel,

nga ngjyra, forma, ndjesia,

by any technique they can.

me cdo teknike qe munden.

And sometimes they'll resort to what's known as the "burn and sniff" technique

Dhe, ndonjehere ata do t'i drejtohen teknikes "digj e nuhat"

where they'll burn the plastic and smell the fumes

ku e djegin plastiken dhe nuhasin tymin

to try to determine the type of plastic.

per te percaktuar llojin.

None of these techniques result in any amount of recycling

Asnje nga keto teknika nuk rezulton ne ndonje sasi riciklimi

in any significant way.

ne menyre te konsiderueshme.

And by the way,

Dhe, meqe ra fjala,

please don't try this technique at home.

ju lutem mos e provoni kete teknike ne shtepi.

So what are we to do about this space-age material,

Pra, c'te bejme me kete material te epokes kozmike,

at least what we used to call a space-aged material, these plastics?

te pakten ate qe quanim material te epokes kozmike, keto plastika?

Well I certainly believe that it's far too valuable and far too abundant

Une jam i bindur qe eshte tejet i vlefshem dhe tejet i bollshem

to keep putting back in the ground

per te vazhduar ta groposim

or certainly send up in smoke.

apo ta djegim.

So about 20 years ago, I literally started in my garage tinkering around,

Keshtu para 20 vjetesh, une fillova te eksperimentoja ne garazhin tim,

trying to figure out how to separate

per te kuptuar se si te ndaja

these very similar materials from each other,

keto materiale shume te ngjashme nga njera-tjetra,

and eventually enlisted a lot of my friends,

dhe me kohe rekrutova shume nga miqte e mi,

in the mining world actually, and in the plastics world,

te sektoreve te minierave dhe plastikave,

and we started going around to mining laboratories around the world.

dhe filluam te shkojme ne laboratoret e minierave ne te gjithe boten.

Because after all, we're doing above-ground mining.

Sepse në fund të fundit, ne po shfrytezonim minierat mbi toke.

And we eventually broke the code.

Me ne fund ne zbuluam kodin.

This is the last frontier of recycling.

Kjo eshte zona e pashkelur e fundit e riciklimit.

It's the last major material

Eshte materiali i fundit i rendesishem

to be recovered in any significant amount on the Earth.

per t'u rikuperuar ne sasi te konsiderueshme mbi Toke.

And we finally figured out how to do it.

Me ne fund ne e kuptuam si behet.

And in the process, we started recreating

Dhe ne proces, ne filluam te rikrijojme

how the plastics industry makes plastics.

si industria e plastikes prodhon plastiken.

The traditional way to make plastics

Menyra tradicionale e prodhimit te plastikes

is with oil or petrochemicals.

perdor nafte ose produkte petrokimike.

You breakdown the molecules, you recombine them in very specific ways,

I shperben molekulave, i rikombinon ato ne menyra shume specifike,

to make all the wonderful plastics that we enjoy each and every day.

per te prodhuar gjithe keto plastika te mrekullueshme qe gezojme cdo dite.

We said, there's got to be a more sustainable way to make plastics.

Ne thame, duhet te kete nje menyre me te qendrueshme per te prodhuar plastikat.

And not just sustainable from an environmental standpoint,

Dhe te qendrueshme jo vetem nga pikpamja ambjentale,

sustainable from an economic standpoint as well.

te qendrueshme nga pikpamja ekonomike po ashtu.

Well a good place to start is with waste.

Nje vend i mire per te filluar jane mbeturinat

It certainly doesn't cost as much as oil,

Pa dyshim nuk kushton aq shume sa nafta,

and it's plentiful,

dhe ka me bollek,

as I hope that you've been able to see from the photographs.

sic arritet te shihni, shpresoj

And because we're not breaking down the plastic into molecules

Dhe meqe nuk i shperbejme plastikat ne molekula

and recombining them,

dhe t'i rikombinojme,

we're using a mining approach to extract the materials.

ne perdorim metoden e minieres per te mbledhur materialet.

We have significantly lower capital costs

Ne kemi kosto kapitale shume me te ulet

in our plant equipment.

ne pajisjet e fabrikes.

We have enormous energy savings.

Kemi kursim energjie te pamase.

I don't know how many other projects on the planet right now

Nuk e di se sa projekte te tjera ne planet ne kete kohe

can save 80 to 90 percent of the energy

mund te kursejne 80 deri 90 perqind te energjise

compared to making something the traditional way.

krahasuar me metoden tradicionale te prodhimit.

And instead of plopping down several hundred million dollars

Dhe në vend të harxhojme qindra milionë dollarë

to build a chemical plant

për të ndërtuar një fabrikë kimike

that will only make one type of plastic for its entire life,

që do të prodhojë vetëm një lloj plastike në jetën e saj

our plants can make any type of plastic we feed them.

fabrika jonë mund të prodhojë çdo lloj plastike me te cilen e furnizojme ate.

And we make a drop-in replacement

Dhe kalimthi kemi bërë zëvendësimin

for that plastic that's made from petrochemicals.

per plastikën që bëhet nga produktet petrokimike.

Our customers get to enjoy

Konsumatorët tanë përfitojnë

huge CO2 savings.

kursime të mëdha te CO2.

They get to close the loop with their products.

Ata mund të mbyllin ciklin me prodhimet e tyre.

And they get to make more sustainable products.

Dhe ata marrin për të bërë produktet më të qëndrueshme.

In the short time period I have,

Ne keto pak minuta qe kam ne dispozicion

I want to show you a little bit of a sense about how we do this.

dua t'ju jap nje ide se si e bejme kete

It starts with metal recyclers who shred our stuff into very small bits.

Fillon me ricikluesit e metalit qe grijne gjerat ne copa shume te vogla.

They recover the metals

Ata rikuperojne metalet

and leave behind what's called shredder residue -- it's their waste --

dhe lene mbrapa ate qe quhet mbetje e grimcuar- mbeturinat e tyre-

a very complex mixture of materials,

nje perzierje mjaft komplekse materialesh,

but predominantly plastics.

por e mbizoteruar nga plastikat.

We take out the things that aren't plastics,

Ne heqim ato qe s'jane plastika,

such as the metals they missed, carpeting, foam, rubber,

si metale te mbetura, mokete, sfungjer, gome,

wood, glass, paper, you name it.

dru, qelq, leter, lloj lloj gjerash.

Even an occasional dead animal, unfortunately.

Bile edhe ndonje kafshe te ngordhur, per fat te keq.

And it goes in the first part of our process here, which is more like traditional recycling.

Dhe kjo shkon në pjesën e parë të procesit tonë këtu, e cila ngjan me riciklimin tradicional.

We're sieving the material, we're using magnets,

Ne seleksionojme materialin, perdorim magnetet,

we're using air classification.

perdorim ndares me ajer.

It looks like the Willy Wonka factory at this point.

Kjo ne kete pike duket si fabrika Willy Wonka.

At the end of this process, we have a mixed plastic composite:

Ne fund te procesit ne perfitojme nje kompozite:

many different types of plastics

plastike te tipeve shume te ndryshme

and many different grades of plastics.

dhe te gradeve shume te ndryshme.

This goes into the more sophisticated part of our process,

Tashme kjo shkon drejt pjeses me te sofistikuar te procesit,

and the really hard work, multi-step separation process begins.

dhe puna me e veshtire, fillon procesi i ndarjes ne shume faza.

We grind the plastic down to about the size of your small fingernail.

E grijme plastiken ne copa sa thoi i gishtit te vogel.

We use a very highly automated process

Perdorim nje proces shume te automatizuar

to sort those plastics,

per ti ndare keto plastika,

not only by type, but by grade.

jo vetem nga lloji, por dhe nga grada.

And out the end of that part of the process

Dhe ne fund te kesaj pjese te procesit

come little flakes of plastic:

dalin copeza te vogla plastike:

one type, one grade.

te nje tipi, nje grade.

We then use optical sorting to color sort this material.

Me pas perdorim seleksionim optik per ngjyrat.

We blend it in 50,000-lb. blending silos.

E perziejme ne kulla perzierese 25 toneshe.

We push that material to extruders where we melt it,

E kalojme kete material ne furra ku e shkrijme,

push it through small die holes,

e kalojme neper vrima te vogla,

make spaghetti-like plastic strands.

ku behet si fije spageti plastike.

And we chop those strands

I presim keto fije

into what are called pellets.

ne ato qe quhen fisheke.

And this becomes the currency of the plastics industry.

Dhe kjo bëhet monedha e industrisë së plastikës.

This is the same material

Ky eshte i njejti material

that you would get from oil.

qe mund te merret nga nafta.

And today,

Dhe sot,

we're producing it from your old stuff,

ne e prodhojme nga sendet e vjetra,

and it's going right back into your new stuff.

dhe shkon drejtperdrejt tek gjerat e reja.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

So now, instead of your stuff ending up

Pra, ne vend qe gjerat te perfundojne

on a hillside in a developing country

ne mallin e plehrave ne vendet ne zhvillim,

or literally going up in smoke,

apo tu vihet zjarri,

you can find your old stuff

ti e gjen gjene e vjeter

back on top of your desk in new products,

perseri mbi tavoline tek sendet e reja,

in your office,

ne zyre,

or back at work in your home.

apo ne shtepi.

And these are just a few examples

Keta jane vetem pak shembuj

of companies that are buying our plastic,

te kompanive qe blejne plastiken tone,

replacing virgin plastic,

duke zevendesuar plastiken e paperdorur,

to make their new products.

per te bere produktet e tyre.

So I hope I've changed the way you look at

Shpresoj qe kam ndryshuar menyren se si i shikoni

at least some of the stuff in your life.

te pakten disa nga gjerat ne jeten tuaj.

We took our clues from mother nature.

Ne i morem idete nga mema natyre.

Mother nature wastes very little,

Ajo shperdoron shume pak,

reuses practically everything.

riperdor praktikisht cdo gje.

And I hope that you stop looking at yourself as a consumer --

Shpresoj qe ju s'do ta shihni me veten si konsumator-

that's a label I've always hated my entire life --

kjo eshte nje etikete qe e kam urryer gjithe jeten-

and think of yourself as just using resources in one form,

dhe te mendoni se si mund t'i perdorni burimet ne nje forme

until they can be transformed to another form

derisa ato te mund te transformohen ne nje forme tjeter

for another use later in time.

per perdorim te mevonshem.

And finally, I hope you agree with me

Ne fund, shpresoj qe ju jeni dakort

to change that last toddler rule just a little bit

te ndryshojme pak ate rregullen e fundit te femijeve

to: "If it's broken, it's my stuff."

ne: "Nese eshte e prishur, eshte e imja."

Thank you for your time.

Faleminderit per kohen tuaj.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)