A plan to recycle the unrecyclable | Ashton Cofer

Prevodilac: Stefan Zrnović Lektor: Mile Živković

It was just an ordinary Saturday.

Bila je obična subota.

My dad was outside mowing the lawn,

Moj otac je kosio dvorište,

my mom was upstairs folding laundry,

majka je bila na spratu i slagala odeću,

my sister was in her room doing homework

sestra je radila domaći zadatak u svojoj sobi

a ja sam igrao video igre u podrumu.

and I was in the basement playing video games.

Kad sam se popeo na sprat da uzmem nešto da popijem,

And as I came upstairs to get something to drink,

I looked out the window

pogledao sam kroz prozor

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

i shvatio nešto što je trebalo da radim

i video sam ovo.

and this is what I saw.

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

Ne, ovo nije bila moja porodična večera u plamenu.

Ovo je bio moj naučni projekat.

This was my science project.

Flames were pouring out,

Plamen se širio,

smoke was in the air

dim je bio u vazduhu

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

i izgledalo je kao da će se naš trem upravo zapaliti.

I immediately started yelling.

I momentalno sam počeo da vičem.

Moja majka je ludela,

My mom was freaking out,

my dad ran around to put out the fire

otac je počeo da trči oko vatre da je ugasi

and of course my sister started recording a Snapchat video.

a moja sestra je, naravno, počela da snima Snepčet video.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Ovo je bio samo početak mog naučnog projekta.

My team is composed of me and three other students

Moj tim smo sačinjavali ja i druga tri studenta

koje su ovde u publici danas.

who are here in the audience today.

We competed in FIRST LEGO League

Takmičili smo se u Prvoj LEGO ligi,

which is an international LEGO robotics competition for kids,

što je internacionalno LEGO takmičenje u robotici za decu

and in addition to a robotics game,

i pored robotičkih igara,

we also worked on a separate science project,

radili smo i na posebnom naučnom projektu,

a ovo je bio projekat na kome smo radili.

and this was the project that we were working on.

So the idea for this project all started

Ideja za projekat je počela

when a few months earlier,

kada je nekoliko meseci ranije

a couple of my teammates took a trip to Central America

nekoliko mojih članova tima otputovalo u Srednju Ameriku

i videlo plaže zagađene stirporom,

and saw beaches littered with Styrofoam,

or expanded polystyrene foam.

ili pokidanim tablama stiropora.

Kada du došli i rekli nam to, zaista smo počeli

And when they came back and told us about it,

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

da razmišljamo o načinima kako posmatramo stiropor svakodnevno.

Get a new flat-screen TV?

Kupujete novi TV sa ravnim ekranom?

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

Završićete sa tablom stiropora većom od samog TV-a.

Pijete kafu?

Drink a cup of coffee?

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

Sigurno će vam je servirati u onim stioporskim čašama.

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

Gde završavaju svi ti predmeti kada se jednokratno iskoriste?

S obzirom da ne postoji nijedan dobar sistem za iskorišćeni stiropor,

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

almost all of them end up right in the landfill,

gotovo svi oni završe na deponiji

ili u okeanima i plažama

or the oceans and beaches,

taking over 500 years to degrade.

razgrađujući se preko 500 godina.

And in fact, every year, the US alone

Zapravo, svake godine, samo Sjedinjene države

produces over two billion pounds of Styrofoam,

proizvedu preko milion tona stiropora,

ispunjavajući zapanjujućih 25 procenata deponija.

filling up a staggering 25 percent of landfills.

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

Zašto onda imamo nagomilavanje otpada u vidu stiropora?

Zašto ne možemo da ih recikliramo kao mnoge plastike?

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

Well, simply put, recycled polystyrene is too expensive

Jednostavno rečeno, reciklirani stiropor je previše skup

and potentially contaminated,

i potencijalno zagađen,

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

te je veoma nizak zahtev tržišta za stiroporom koji mora da se reciklira.

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

Kao rezultat, stiropor se smatra neobnovljivim materijalom,

because it is neither feasible nor viable to recycle polystyrene.

jer niti je praktično niti zahvalno reciklirati polistiren.

And in fact, many cities across the US

Zapravo, mnogi gradovi širom Sjedinjenih država

have even passed ordinances

su čak doneli uredbe

that simply ban the production of many products containing polystyrene,

da jednostavno zabrane proizvodnju mnogih proizvoda koji sadrže polistiren,

which includes disposable utensils,

što uključuje jednokratne pribore,

packing peanuts, takeout containers

kuglice stiropora, ambalaže za poneti,

and even plastic beach toys,

čak i plastične igračke za plažu,

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

svi proizvodi koji su veoma korisni u današnjem društvu.

And now France has become the first country

Francuska je prva država

to completely ban all plastic utensils,

koja je potpuno zabranila sav plastičan pribor,

cups and plates.

čaše i tanjire.

Šta ako bismo mogli da nastavimo da koristimo stiropor

But what if we could keep using Styrofoam

and keep benefiting from its cheap, lightweight, insulating

i imati korist od njegovih jeftinih, laganih, izolirskih

and excellent packing ability,

i sjajnih mogućnosti za pakovanje,

while not having to suffer from the repercussions

bez da patimo od posledica

of having to dispose of it?

izlaganja stiroporu?

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

Šta ako bismo mogli da ga pretvorimo u nešto što je zapravo korisno?

What if we could make the impossible possible?

Šta ako bismo mogli da nemoguće učinimo mogućim?

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

Moji tim je pretpostavio da bismo mogli da koristimo ugljenik

koji se već nalazi u stiroporu za stvaranje aktivnog uglja,

to create activated carbon,

which is used in almost every water filter today.

koji se koristi u gotovo svakom prečišćivaču vode.

And activated carbon works by using very small micropores

Aktivni ugalj funkcioniše koristeći izuzetno male mikropore

za pročišćavanje zagađenja iz vode ili čak vazduha.

to filter out contaminants from water or even air.

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

Stoga smo počeli koristećni različite testove zagrevanja,

i nažalost, imali smo mnogo neuspeha.

and unfortunately, we had many failures.

Literally, nothing worked.

Bukvalno ništa nije radilo.

Besides my dad's grill catching on fire,

Pored očevog roštilja kojeg je zahvatila vatra,

most of our samples vaporized into nothing,

mnogi naši esperimenti su isparili u prazno.

ili su eskplodirali u skupim pećnicama,

or exploded inside expensive furnaces,

leaving a horribly sticky mess.

ostavljajući ogroman lepljivi haos.

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

U stvari, bili smo toliko deprimirani svojim neuspesima da smo skoro odustali.

Zašto smo onda nastavili da pokušavamo

So why did we keep trying

when all the adults said it was impossible?

kada su svi odrasli rekli da je nemoguće?

Možda zato što smo deca. Ne znamo drugačije.

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

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

Istina je da smo nastavli da pokušavamo jer smo mislili da je i dalje moguće.

We knew that if we were successful,

Znali smo da ako budemo uspeli

pomogli bismo čitavom okruženju i učinili svet lepšim mestom.

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

So we kept trying

Nastavili smo da pokušavamo

i podbacujemo

and failing

and trying

i pokušavamo

and failing.

i podbacujemo.

Bili smo spremni da odustanemo.

We were so ready to give up.

But then it happened.

A onda se to desilo.

With the right temperatures, times and chemicals,

Uz pravu temperaturu, vreme i hemikalije,

we finally got that successful test result

konačno smo dobili uspešne rezultate testa

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

koji pokazuju da smo dobili aktivni ugalj od iskorišćenog stiropora.

U tom trenutku, nemoguća stvar

And at that moment, the thing that had been impossible

all of a sudden wasn't.

odjednom je postala moguća.

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

Pokazalo nam je da iako smo imali mnogo neuspeha u početku,

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

ipak smo uspeli da istrajemo kroz njih da bismo dobili rezultate koje smo želeli.

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

Šta više, ne samo da smo uspeli da stvorimo aktivni ugalj

for purifying water,

čišćenjem vode,

but we were also able to reduce Styrofoam waste,

već smo uspeli da smanjimo količinu iskorišćenog stiropora,

solving two global problems with just one solution.

rešavajući tako dva globalna problema jednim potezom.

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

Od tada smo bili inspirisani da unapredimo svoj projekat,

performing more tests to make it more effective

i vršili smo još testova kako bismo pojačali efekat

and testing it in real world situations.

i testirali ga u realnim situacijama.

We then proceeded to receive funding

Onda smo dobili sredstva

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

od NSTA-inog programa eCYBERMISSION STEM-in-Action,

sponsored by the US Army,

koji je sponzorisala američka vojska,

as well as FIRST Global Innovation Awards

kao i nagradu Prve Globalne Inovacije

sponsored by XPRIZE.

koju je sponzorisao XPRIZE.

And we were also honored

Dobili smo nagradu

with the Scientific American Innovator Award

za naučnog američkog inovatora

from Google Science Fair.

koju je dodelio Google naučni sajam.

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

Koristeći ova sredstva, odlučili smo da prijavimo celokupan patent svog procesa

and to continue to work on our project.

i nastavimo da radimo na svom projektu.

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

Iako smo počeli sa gašenjem plamena sa očevog roštilja

and failing so many times that we almost quit,

i toliko puta grešili,

bilo je vredno kada to sada pogledamo.

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

We took a problem that many people said was impossible

Uzeli smo problem za koji su mnogi ljudi rekli da je nemoguć

and we made it possible,

i učinili ga mogućim,

i nastavili smo dalje kada je delovalo kao da ništa ne bi moglo da funkcioniše.

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

We learned that you can't have success

Naučili smo da ne možeš imati uspeh

without a little,

bez malo,

ili mnogo neuspeha.

or a lot, of failure.

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

Stoga u budućnosti, ne plašite se ukoliko vam se zapali roštilj,

jer nikad ne znate kada vam ideja može uhvatiti vatru.

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

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Aplauz)

(Applause)