David Katz on social entrepreneurship
From The surprising solution to ocean plastic | David Katz · · TED
“Social plastic is money, a globally recognizable and tradable currency that, when used, alleviates poverty and cleans the environment at the same time. It’s not just plastic. It’s not recycled plastic, it’s social plastic, a material whose value is transferred through the lives of the people who encounter it, rich and poor.”
On , David Katz, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at UNIFIRST CORP, spoke about social entrepreneurship during The surprising solution to ocean plastic | David Katz on TED.
About David Katz
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also described an online banking platform that allows users to deposit recyclables in one location and have the value withdrawn by a family in another location.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."