Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Unifirst
Search every verified David Katz interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2018 TED Talk, David Katz, founder of the Plastic Bank, argued that cleaning the ocean is not the primary solution to plastic pollution. He compared the situation to a kitchen sink overflowing, stating that the priority should be to "turn off the tap" rather than mop up the water. Katz described the Plastic Bank as "the world's largest chain of stores for the ultra-poor," where items such as school tuition, medical insurance, and cooking fuel can be purchased using plastic waste. He referred to this collected plastic as "social plastic," which he said becomes a globally tradable currency that alleviates poverty and cleans the environment. Katz stated that the Plastic Bank sells the collected plastic to companies like Marks and Spencer and Henkel, which use it in their products and packaging. He said that Henkel committed to using over 100 million kilograms of this material annually, which he estimated would put "hundreds of millions of dollars into the hands of the poor in the emerging economies." Katz also described an online banking platform that allows users to deposit recyclables in one location and have the value withdrawn by a family in another location. He concluded that while cleaning the ocean may be futile, preventing ocean plastic "could be humanity's richest opportunity."
“The very last thing we need to do is clean the ocean. Very last. If you were to walk into a kitchen, sink overflowing, water spilling all over the floor, soaking into the walls, you had to think fast, you’re going to panic; you’ve got a bucket, a mop or a plunger. What do you do first? Why don’t we turn off the tap? It...”
“I created the Plastic Bank. We are the world's largest chain of stores for the ultra-poor, where everything in the store is available to be purchased using plastic garbage. Everything. School tuition. Medical insurance. Wi-Fi, cell phone minutes, power. Sustainable cooking fuel, high-efficiency stoves.”
“Lise now has a steady, reliable source of income. And that value we transfer into an online account for her. Because it’s a savings account, it becomes an asset that she can borrow against. Because it’s online, she has security against robbery, and more importantly, she has a new sense of worth.”
“We sell the plastic to suppliers of great brands like Marks and Spencer, who have commissioned the use of social plastic in their products. Or like Henkel, the German consumer-goods company, who are using social plastic directly into their manufacturing. We've closed the loop in the circular economy.”
Can we solve the problem of ocean plastic pollution and end extreme poverty at the same time? That's the ambitious goal of The ...
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