Since plastic is made from oil, let's mentally move to an oil refinery. The oil refining company extracts oil, but in addition to oil, some other gases also are released. The oil company only needs the oil and can either burn or sell the associated gases. It is profitable to sell; therefore, the company sells the adjacent oil gas to the gas refinery. Now let's move to the gas refinery. Here that gas is pumped into a container and heated to get the materials we need to make plastic (e.g. pentane, isobutane, butane, propane).

The next step is moving materials from one factory to another. Now they are in a gaseous state, so we make them liquid, put them in a container and transport them.

If you look at plastic under a microscope, you might think it's like a long train made up of many identical cars. Let's call that whole train a polymer and the wagons monomers.

Now let's return to the factory where we came with our materials. We need to extract those wagons, the monomers, from them. First, we change substances from liquid to gas. For this, we heat them and separate the monomers, for example, ethylene gas.

We mix a catalyst, and those car monomers join together and become the new train, the polymer. This is the plastic. Then, other chemical substances can be added depending on the type of plastic. So that the product is elastic, flexible - plasticizers, so that it has a certain color - dyes. Now that we have already obtained the solid material, we divide it into thin threads so that it is easier to work with it. Then we make small cubes from the threads. Finally, those cubes will be sent to another factory, where they will be melted again, and their plastic will be shaped like a bottle. Anything can be obtained from threads or cubes. From the bottle to the dress.

Let's move to 2019 Mexico, a science fair where Professor Sandra Pasco Ortiz was trying to get a plastic-like substance from a cactus. That experience with her students was the beginning of Sandra's idea. She began the research and developed this sequence with his colleagues:

1. take the leaves of the Mexican Nopal cactus
2. peel them like potatoes
3. put it in a juicer and transfer the cactus juice to the refrigerator
4. add natural additives: glycerin and proteins
5. spread the mass on a flat surface and let it dry.

To make the material more attractive, it is dyed with natural dyes. The material can be made to the desired shape, size, thickness and softness. This plastic is non-toxic and can even be eaten. Sandra once ate the substance she had prepared to ensure its safety. It takes about a month for such plastic to decompose completely, and even less, a few days in water. The material is still only used as food packaging, but Sandra and her team are experimenting with different properties of cacti to improve the material and its applications.

In addition to cacti, there are other bases for bioplastic, such as mango. The Philippines is the ninth-largest mango-growing country in the world. Imagine how much mango peel remains after it is peeled and thrown away. Just as Sandra uses the cactus, a Filipino student, Denxibel Montinola, creates bioplastic from mango peels. At first glance, it looks like ordinary plastic, it is just a little crunchier. This plastic is non-toxic and decomposes in water. Denxibel wants to improve it further and extend its lifetime. His invention interested the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry Board of Investment, as well as the government of the Philippines.

Such wonderful works are not only happening in Mexico or the Philippines. But also in Armenia, at the Ayb school, your peers have obtained bioplastic from potato starch, created bags, and now they are working towards a larger volume of production.

Saar Safra is a successful startupper who has lived in Seattle, Washington, for many years, but before the startup Beewise, he never thought about the importance of bees.

The idea for the startup was born when Saar learned from his beekeeping friends that all the bees in the world are kept in ordinary beehives and die from harmful pesticides. After learning about the problem, he decided to use technology to turn ordinary wooden hives into smart tools that would both help beekeepers and protect bees. That's how he created the startup Beewise in 2018 with several co-founders.

So, they created a unique beehive (called Beehome) that can accommodate 40 families (about 2 million bees). It allows beekeepers to remotely monitor the health of bees and take care of them. By the way, the beehive work with solar energy. solar panels are installed on the roof. Beehome can also control the climate and humidity of the hives and eliminate pests. The Beehome also detects ready hives, collects honey automatically, and notifies the beekeeper when the honey containers are filled with 1,800 kg of honey.

It all started in 1939 when the scientist Paul Miller began actively spreading the insecticide he created called DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) (a chemical that kills insects). At that time, they were not sprayed on the fields but on the American soldiers in order to get rid of malaria, ticks and fever. It later turned out that this had a negative effect on their health. As a result, environmental scientists began to raise active movements against chemicals.

Specialized institutes began to open. One of the first was the Organic Agriculture Research Institute, which opened in Switzerland in 1973. This was later followed by the National Federation of Organic Farmers in France in 1978, and in 1983 Austria became the first country to legislate organic farming. This is how, in just a little more than 10 years, Europe came to the point where now we can go to any supermarket and see those certificates and buy products grown without chemicals.