The Earthshot Prize

Now our third Earthshot is "Build a Waste-Free World", and to present it, one of the greatest players ever to have graced a football pitch. He's also a dedicated UNICEF ambassador, but tonight he's here to talk to us about waste and what to do with it. Oh, surely it's obvious what we have to do with it. We have to 'bin it' like Beckham. Wow. (host laughs) Ladies and gentlemen, this is "Build a Waste-Free World". Please welcome David Beckham. (crowd applause) (orchestral fanfare) Good evening everyone. So I was- (crowd whooping) (crowd applause) I was honored to be invited by Prince William to be part of this year's Earthshot prize. Now I'm an optimist because humans are capable of great creativity when we collaborate. We create beauty in art, music, film, and of course, sport. We create things that bring us comfort in this challenging world. But, we also create waste. We make over 300 million tons of plastic per year. That's the equivalent, in weight, to every adult on Earth. Tonight is about solutions. Let's look at the incredible work of our finalists aiming to build a waste-free world. The nominees are, -

Announcer

Fleather by Phool, vegan leather. Every year, millions of tons of waste is generated here in India through ceremonial flowers. By repurposing these flowers, we have created an eco-friendly, plant-based leather. It performs like animal leather, but is animal free, plastic free, biodegradable, and compostable. It has the potential to replace the highly polluting global tanning leather industry. (whoosing effect) -

Announcer

Notpla, plastic free packaging. -

Pierre

Single-use plastics are destroying the environment. Using seaweed, we've created a biodegradable alternative to plastic packaging. Our packaging can be composted with the rest of your food waste. We're hoping to make single-use plastic a thing of the past, and build towards a cleaner, less wasteful world. (whoosing effect) -

Announcer

The City of Amsterdam, Circular Economy. -

Man

Cities create lots of waste, and it's a huge problem for the planet. This is the city of Amsterdam, and we are building a circular economy. Our aim is to reduce, recycle, and reuse as much as possible by 2050. We are the first city to fully adopt this model, and we believe this can be a blueprint for others around the globe. (whoosing effect) (crowd applause) And I can announce that the 2022 Earthshot for "Build Waste-Free World" goes to, Notpla. (orchestral fanfare) (crowd applause) Congratulations to Notpla, who have found a way to replace plastic, with a material made from seaweed. Let's find out more. (calm synth music) -

Pierre

Billions of single-use plastics are used every year. They breakdown into microplastics, which find their way into our oceans, food, and our bodies. (sea waves crashing) Our reliance on plastic has gone on for far too long. We have to stop. It's time to find a new solution. -

Rodrigo

And what if that solution came from the ocean? -

Pierre

But our story doesn't start here in Wales. It starts in the student apartment in London, back in 2012. (vocal pop music) We met each other on the first day of university. We messed around in the kitchen day and night. For us, what was really important is to use things that would be very renewable, that would not be chemically-modified, and that would essentially be completely easy for nature to deal with at end of life. We tried to make packaging that was actually edible. And quite early on we found out that seaweed was a really great candidate. -

Pierre

We researched and researched, it was painstakingly time consuming. -

Rodrigo

We were close to giving up, but the breakthroughs we were making by using seaweed started to get noticed. -

Pierre

We were onto something that could have a lot of potential. (synth whooshing) Seaweed is an amazing material. It grows incredibly fast, with some species able to grow over 30 centimeters per day. -

Rodrigo

As it grows, it absorbs carbon dioxide, so it has the potential to tackle climate change. (water pouring) -

Pierre

The Notpla team has been working really hard to develop products such as consumable liquid sachets, ketchup sachets, take away boxes. We developed a coating that we put onto takeaway food boxes. Typically, they have a thin layer of plastic and we replace that with seaweed, so that this whole packaging is completely natural and biodegradable. (uplifting string music) -

Ivana

We use the packaging on a daily basis, and I think it's great. It's good for customers, good for business, so good for everyone. (joyful synth music) -

Rodrigo

Winning the Earthshot prize will give us a platform, to not only scale up our operations, but it will help those in the industry to see what is possible. -

Pierre

What gives me hope, is that nature has all the solutions already. Seaweed has been around for billions of years, so wherever it ends up, nature knows exactly how to break it down. That means that if we fail as humans to collect our waste, we're not leaving behind something that nature cannot deal with. (inspiring synth-rock music) (crowd applause) Rodrigo, Pierre, congratulations. You guys have gone from kitchen experiments, to a potentially world-changing solution. How does it feel to win this prize money? It's really amazing. I wanna thank the whole Notpla team, who's been working so hard to make this innovation come to life. And everyone who's been supporting us along the journey. And I want to thank also the Earthshot prize for creating such an amazing platform, and believing in our solution. No one wants to live in a world full of plastic, but it's not too late to act. We all have a role to play in it. Let's shout louder about the change we want to see in the world, and let's make plastic disappear. (group laugh) (crowd applause)