[Music] we often don't realize it but the decisions we make as consumers from what products we buy to how we end up disposing of them all affect other people in other places i want to know more about the impact that the manufacturing and consumption of goods has on different environments around the world [Music] let's hear from kathleen griffith about the environmental impact of manufacturing countries that make consumer goods or produce the raw materials are going to be affected environmentally from previous old-fashioned behaviors such as making garments and just basically getting rid of waste into the rivers or the waterways and therefore the fish die and the rivers might get green algae and it can all pollute people around that live around those rivers it's really can be quite devastating you would think we would have gotten better at that by now but if you know there's been recent media attention to the bleaching of the great barrier reef and a lot of protests about how close we're discharging stuff into that part of the world or that part of australia's waterways and that it is having a detrimental effect on the barrier reef now that all comes from stuff that's being manufactured here in australia if we take an example of a country that does a lot of manufacturing china they have a lot of trouble with pollution you have to pretty much wear a mask if you're in one of the tier one cities of china it is affecting people's health it's reducing their life expectancy and people in china in those tier 1 and tier 2 cities are very very concerned about the effect of that pollution on their children sourcing raw materials and producing goods have an environmental impact in our country and around the world so what can we do as consumers to help minimize this impact [Music] i've been thinking about my lifestyle and the things that i buy i'm buying diamond earrings for a friend i can't say i know much about where they come from so that's where i'll start my research diamonds are one of the most precious and sought-after stones on the planet however around four percent of the rough diamonds sold on the world market are known as blood diamonds because of the fact they originate from places of civil war and conflict like sierra leone angola and the ivory coast these territories are often controlled by groups of rebels who sell the diamonds to pay for guns and weapons the illegal diamond traders cause the deaths and displacement of millions of african people the mining of diamonds has also had a severe environmental impact on several parts of africa in the kono district of eastern sierra leone thousands of abandoned mining pits remain filled with stagnant rainwater and malaria carrying mosquitoes wildlife has vanished from the area and what was once fertile farmland is now barren and uninhabitable there's a lot of consequences of diamond mining what about makeup i need to look a bit deeper here sodium lauryl palmate i've heard of that it's the scientific term for palm oil let's have a look palm oil is extracted from the fruit of the elias genesis species of palm indigenous to west africa because of its high resistance to oxidization and decay the oil is used in a variety of products to increase their shelf life this includes everything from cosmetic products to soaps and shampoos to instant noodles and chocolate the cost of the widespread use of palm oil has been massive deforestation in malaysia and indonesia where 90 of palm oil is currently produced since oil palms need high humidity and temperatures and a large amount of land rain forests are regularly cleared to make way for commercial plantations taking a devastating toll on local plant animal and bird species another environmental issue is the dumping of electronic waste do you know where seventy percent of the electronic waste generated globally eventually ends up why you in the guangdong province of china it's notorious for being home to the largest electronic waste dump in the world electronic and other waste is shipped to china and various other parts of the world including poorer countries where environmental protection laws are weak or non-existent environmental impacts from adding heavy metals to landfill or the burning of circuit boards and plastic wires and washing of electronic items to recover metals go unchecked work areas in these recycling centres are often poorly ventilated and there is no protective gear provided workers are exposed to toxic fumes from heavy metals together with hydrocarbon ashes heavy metals are also released into the soil water and air people are feeling the effects in china's guandong province children have been found to have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood those are just three examples of how our use of products contributes to the environmental decline in other parts of the world the good news though is that more and more businesses are using sustainable practices to reduce the impact of manufacturing on the environment [Music] here's a company that specializes in sustainable packaging and recycling practices vizi processes recyclables for millions of households and businesses across australia and new zealand each year they recover over 1.7 million tons of paper and cardboard 221 000 tons of glass 92 000 tons of plastics and 34 000 tons of metals fizzy first started off as a manufacturer of cardboard boxes and is now one of the world's leading packaging and recycling companies that employs over 5000 staff we collect and process materials such as plastic cardboard paper aluminium steel and glass and we use this to make our own recycled and new packaging recycling and sustainability is so important at visi as we are a manufacturer of new packaging we collect and process this material which then creates a closed loop this helps us reduce the need for natural resources australians spend over half a billion dollars a year on bottled water we all know about putting empty plastic bottles in recycling bins but what happens to them after that so a plastic bottle that is placed into a recycling bin is collected by a dedicated recycling truck and that material then comes back to what we would call our nerf or our material recovery facility and that is where we separate and sort all the different material types whether it is glass plastic aluminum steel cardboard and paper we use a combination of of either machinery or manual hand sorters to separate this material uh once that material is then separated is then sent away to different divisions of the business to be recycled and turned into new packaging plastic bottles are typically sorted using our optical sorting machine this machine separates the three types of plastics into three separate categories so it will separate our hdpe our pet bottles and our mixed plastics and they are then baled separately and sent off to our plant in smithfield for reprocessing and remanufacturing so once the plastic bottles arrive at our smithfield plant in new south wales they're then ready for reprocessing so the plastic bottles are flaked um pelletized molded into little preforms which would be the mold for the end product um those preforms are then blow molded into the final product which is a plastic bottle they're then ready to hit the shop shelves however up to 36 of plastic bottles are recycled which means that hundreds of millions of bottles end up as waste every year and if you don't think your personal recycling habits make much of a difference then think about this statistics show that the average australian produces two tons of landfill waste per year so outside of always using the right bin and reusing a drink bottle or coffee cup what else can we do to improve our recycling habits i guess the first step is to purchase recyclable products when you're shopping the other would be to make sure everyone in the household is educated on what and what can and can't be recycled and how they should be utilizing or using their bins within the home busy is aiming for a future where everything that touches us can be recycled where waste is a thing of the past and we won't stop until we get there every product we use has an environmental impact in some cases a devastating impact it's up to us as consumers to be more aware of the wider implications of our buying decisions and to consider not just where our product has come from but where it's likely to end up [Music] you