It’s been for some time now that plastics became one of the greatest villains of the environment all around the world. And it couldn’t be any different: bottles, bowls, packages, caps, syringes, canvases, gloves, bags, and a whole bunch of plastic-made objects have inflicted harm in the quality of the air, soil, and water around us.
Every year, thousands of sea turtles, fishes, whales, dolphins, birds, seals, and sealions die due to their swallowing or to accidents ignited by plastic residues. And it can take more than a century to the environment absorb these residues back to nature. Perhaps the most chocking case ever known is that of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the greatest plastic island ever formed in the ocean, measuring, according to some scientists, around 1.7 million square yards.
The United States, China, India, and Brazil, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), lead the world production of garbage. The recycling numbers still are very low: in the US, only 34.6% of all plastic dejects are recycled. But in Brazil this percentage is outrageously lower, totalizing only 1.28%. However, most of the residues found in the oceans today come from a few points in areas with little to no environmental control, where states and governments are extremely ineffective in dealing with the infrastructure necessary to triage these materials.
In many countries, legal prohibitions have been implemented as a measure to reduce the pollution created by plastics. These come in the form of banishing plastic-made straws and bags. However, the utilization of the material is still very high, especially in developing countries, since this kind of measure is almost worthless when compared to the volume of garbage created by the great polluting centers. At the end of the day, the bans can cause much more discomfort than benefices to the environment, amounting to little more than a lip-service to the environmental cause, while the root of the problem is left intact.
Recycling, by its turn, still is a very expensive alternative to many countries in the world. This is especially true when one considers the fees imposed by the banks involved in transactions, which elevate the costs for by companies and the individuals involved in the process of collecting the material. What is more, recycling is cumbersome to industrial production, considering the cost and the quality of the final product.
It is evident the importance that public institutions have in dealing with this matter. Facing the state of the question, we have seen utilizations of alternatives within the private initiative to mitigate the cost of bank fees, such as payments using cryptocurrencies, through the blockchain technology. By creating apps that allow the financial inclusion of millions of peoples that were hitherto prevented from using a formal bank account, these initiatives have contributed with the founding of a recycling culture in many poor regions of the globe, with a strong potential of making a world-wide expansion.
This is the case of the partnership between Bounties Network and Coins.ph, who made the collecting of millions of tons of garbage in the beaches of the Philippines possible, thoroughly changing the dynamics of the locals with the trash and the financial system. This happens through a web-, mobile-, or computer-accessed web. The locals involved in the recycling process must submit proofs of their participation in the collecting on the web. These proofs can be their photos in collecting task forces, by the side of garbage bags, and the like, and are then validated in the blockchain. The validated proofs are converted in a reward paid in Ethereum, which can be accessed by the partner institutions; these institutions can also collect donations to world-wide campaigns in cryptocurrencies. The collected plastic garbage is sent to recycling centers based in the community itself.
Other initiatives, such as the Vancouver-based Plastic Bank, funded by IBM, now also operative in the Philippines, has placed its bet in involving other commercial partners, which are stimulated to accept payments in cryptocurrencies. This kind of payment reduces the need to use the traditional banking system and allows the inclusion of many small companies in a network of digital business and capital exchange. In Brazil, Plastik Bank has created points of garbage collecting which creates credit in the digital platform. These credits allow the access to an ever-increasing range of services.
The possibilities of positive transformations in our relationship with the environment are enormous. Investors interested in brand their mark in the current green revolution need to get closer to developers to know better the potential of the changes that the blockchain is making nowadays.
