All language subtitles for War.On.Plastic.With.Hugh.And.Anita.S01E02.Episode.2.720p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-SOIL.[eng]

Let's get noticed, shall we?

Microphone, check. List of names,
check. Wish me luck.

Hi.

I have been e-mailing
your press office.

I've got a list of names here, I've
come a long way to talk to them.

Yes, that's my van.

We use them day in, day out
and they're great useful things,

but we need to start understanding
what they're made of.

And all they need to do
is stick it on the packaging!

So far in our war on plastic...

..Anita and I have
challenged the street

to kick their single-use habit...

So, are you up for it?

..we've gone deep undercover...

It's good and cold.

Oh! It's tap water.

..and made shocking discoveries.

The whole thing's
just nuts, isn't it?

Now we're looking at the hidden
plastics in our everyday lives.

I've just discovered
they're everywhere.

Lurking in our best loved
bathroom products...

Really? There's plastic in them?

That's crazy.

..even in the air that we breathe.

That's sort of raining down
invisible all around us.

And while Anita steps the street
experiment up a gear...

Why are you doing this to us?!

..I'm pushing at the top for a
rethink of the system.

The ball is really in your court.

Now, I tell you, I understand.

Six weeks ago, Hugh and I helped 22
houses on a typical British street

in East Bristol count all their
single-use plastic.

Here's some baskets
for you all, get going.

This is the plastic packaging that
contains our everyday essentials,

like food or toiletries,
for a few days or weeks

before we throw it away.

We scaled up the street counts
for a snapshot of how much

we all have in our homes
across the country.

19 and a half billion.

That's not cool.

The street have taken on the
challenge of seeing how much

they can reduce their tally
over four months.

Wax covered cheese.

It's a small victory.

So far, most of our attention
has been on the kitchen.

Milk delivery.

Now, I'm shifting the focus
of my visits to another room

in the house that's also
full of plastic,

the bathroom.

Hello, Anna. Hello.

Anna and her boyfriend Nick started
with the highest single-use

plastic count on the street.

I don't think it's something
that we can change overnight.

Nick, you've got body wash,
why don't you just use the soap?

I'll give it a go,
I'll give it a go. Good.

I've got sensitive skin, though.

Look at that!

And across the road, 27-year-old
Jess has already started

to make some changes.

I have bought an alternative.
Have you?

I'm not sure I'm a fan of it.

Toothpaste.

I use that and then I use this
afterwards, just to be sure.

What's the point of that?

And in every bathroom I visit,
there's one plastic wrapped product

I keep noticing.

These.

Saskie has a five-year-old
son, Ezra.

We have got through a lot
of wipes since he was born.

Facial cleansing wipes. They're easy
to take away with you, they're easy

to travel with, like,
they're really convenient.

I don't have any face wipes.

But I like toilet wipes.

I can't imagine
going to the loo without them.

I don't like buying them,
because they're in a plastic packet.

But it's the whole little
gang of us who love a wipe,

a toilet wipe. It's a thing.

It's a thing! Soft luxuries.

Exactly! And that's how it
makes me feel, luxurious.

A bit of digging reveals it's not
just the plastic packaging

of wet wipes that poses a problem.

Morning!

So, I've organized a little outing
to show the street the true scale

of the issue.

Here we go, the bus is here. Quick!

Come on.

I love a school trip.

MUSIC PLAYS

My Saturday morning crew.

Can anyone guess
where we might be going?

It's got to be Avonmouth.

If it's Avonmouth, why didn't
we go up the port way?

Because the GPS is taking us around
the wrong way, the long way.

If you think about it,
if you go over...

You can drop over to Henbury
and Shirehampton.

# We're going where the sun
shines brightly

# We're going where
the sea is blue...#

ON THE GPS:
You have reached your destination.

Oh, no!

PASSENGERS COUGH & RETCH

Why are you doing this to us?!

Right.

Come on, guys, this way.

We've got such a treat in store
for you all.

Lead the way, Matt.

Matt Wheeldon is director
of compliance at Wessex Water

and part of his job is to make sure
anything that comes into Bristol

sewers that could harm
the environment is removed.

I can't do this! I'm going
to be vomiting.

DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS

Oh, my God.

Have a look at this huge
mountain behind me.

This is 16 tonnes of wet wipes.

That is revolting.

This is from the
city of Bristol alone

and this has been collected
in three and a half days.

Mountains of it.

ANITA GAGS

You may well have heard about the
problem of wipes combining

with fat to create
drain-blocking fatbergs.

But that's just part
of the wipe issue.

That's come all the way through the
sewer system, it's probably been

through several pumps and that has
got plastic in it and that is

not going to break down.

90% of the wet wipes
on the market contain plastic.

Who knew that wipes had
plastic in them?

How is that even allowed?

Doesn't make any sense.
It's a crazy situation.

Obviously, not everyone
flushes them down the toilet,

but they're still going somewhere.

It's still plastic.

It's still in the system
and it's still a massive problem.

We've got to get a grip, haven't we?

I don't understand how
the government is...

..not already dealt with this.
How they haven't seen

that this is a problem already.

The issue with wipes isn't
just that they're being flushed

when they shouldn't be.

This pile represents just a fraction
of what's being used in one city.

And almost every wipe is yet
another piece of single-use plastic

which will be buried, burnt or
worse still, end up in the sea.

A country of just over 60 million
people buy 11 billion wipes a year.

Can you imagine how big
the pile would be if it was
the whole country?

To the moon. To the moon!

So just how plastic are wet wipes?

I've come to Middlesex University,
where I've asked for a selection

of different wipes to be
tested by analytical chemist

Dr Leonardo Pantoja.

In order to find out
the actual composition

of the fibre material,

we're going to add some acid.

And this goes into a microwave
digester, in which it is heated up

and also
it's under pressure.

As the acid is heated, it will
dissolve any natural material

that could be in the wipe,
such as paper or cotton.

Out we come.

So, the next part is to release
the pressure.

You can see the nitric acid
flowing out of it. Oh, yes.

That's quite a thing.

So, if there's anything left
in the tube, Leonardo,

it will be plastic.

Exactly.

So, this is what is coming out.

A little bit broken.

But this is it. What?!

Let me put some gloves on,
so I can have a feel of that.

So, all of this is plastic?

That's crazy!

That is practically
an entire wet wipe.

Scales confirm that the majority
of this wipe has been left behind.

84%.

Exactly 84%.

Most of it's plastic.

Most of it and, obviously, none
of this is in the information

that is given to the
consumer on the labels.

I had no idea.

I think the vast majority of the
public have no idea there's plastic

in a wet wipe.

Can you tell me what wipe
we've been testing?

This is the wipe
that we've been testing.

Johnson & Johnson baby wipe.

I mean that's, this is an
essential for a lot of parents.

Leonardo uses another technique
to confirm the chemical fingerprint

of a different plastic
in other popular brands.

Including Procter & Gamble's Pampers
and Kimberly-Clark's Huggies.

We found some cellulose,
which is a natural fibre,

but most wipes again are
made of plastic material.

So, it does contain natural fibres,
but it also contains plastic.

Exactly, yes.

Oh, dear.

My goodness. That's an
absolute disaster, isn't it?

Because we are, we're practically
wipe fanatics in this country.

When we do buy something in
single-use plastic,

we're encouraged to do the right
thing and, if it's recyclable,

make sure we recycle it.

I've been exploring how well
this system is working,

by tracing some of the 665,000
tonnes of plastic

we sent abroad for recycling
in the last year.

What a mess!

When I visited Malaysia,
I was shocked to discover vast

mountains of exposed plastics
that are clearly never

going to be recycled.

It's like some dystopian nightmare.

A plastic planet.

Within minutes I found plastic
from UK supermarkets, UK brands

and even UK recycling bags.

We've got Milton Keynes here.

Rhondda...that's Wales.

Braintree District Council.

The whole thing's
just nuts, isn't it?

And I met families who believe
the burning of foreign plastics

is affecting their health.

Oh, my God.

I want to find out who's
responsible for this mess.

Is it our government?

Is it our supermarkets?

Is it the manufacturers
of these goods?

I start by going back up the
export chain and ask to speak

to the council whose bags
I found in Malaysia,

about how their plastics are
handled at home and abroad.

The first to reply is
Rhondda Cynon Taff, in South Wales.

This is a national database
and I found the bit of it

that applies to Rhondda Council.

And in this column over here

is a list of businesses who receive
recycling material from Rhondda

Council, and then suddenly,
in this column, look, Malaysia.

And again here, Malaysia.

There's no address, no company name.

And actually if you look at
the, the numbers involved, it comes

to well over a thousand tonnes
of mixed plastics that were sent

to Malaysia during this
period of just over a year.

This data is publicly available,
so I'm hoping Rhondda council

can shed some light on the issue.

They've put forward their
Director of Street Care Services...

Hi, there.

..Nigel Wheeler.

You must be Nigel. Yeah.

How are you? Welcome.

We have between 550-580 tonnes
a week coming in here.

This is all mixed recycling.

Yes.

So this is one of your...

..local recycling bags.

Here's the list of things
that are allowed in. Yes.

And, you know, some of the
final bales there.

Where will this go now?

This here goes to our contractor,
who takes our plastic.

They'll then wash it, clean it,
send it to a reprocessing plant.

Does this plastic always
stay in the UK?

Yes. Nothing goes to China,
it's all done in this country.

Because I've been trying to do some

background work on where all
the plastics in the UK end up.

I've been looking at the
waste data flow spreadsheets.

And I managed to find one
for Rhondda for the past year

or so and at the final column
here, it says the final users.

It says Malaysia.

And then Poland here,

and then Malaysia again.

I'd have to check what
materials they are.

I actually went out to Malaysia
to find out how much UK plastics

were actually reaching Malaysia
and in amongst that,

I actually found
a plastic bag from Rhondda.

Right, OK.

So, that is reaching Malaysia
and I'm just trying to find out,

I mean, did you have any idea
that any of your plastics

were going to Malaysia?

Material has gone out from here,
but we don't send much now.

I'd have to check what material
we've sent out to Malaysia.

I mean, I was there just a few...
Yeah, I'd have to check.

..a few weeks ago.

I mean, I've got the...

Are you happy to go through with
this? Not really. I'm going to
stop this, then.

I mean, at the end of day, all we've
done, can we stop the camera?

What we've done is give you
permission to come on the site to
film the actual process... Sure.

..from our point of view.

I mean, confronting our director
here about... I just thought

you would want to know.

Where do I go next?

To find out how this material
is getting to Malaysia.

Well, I will look into that,
how that's got there.

Can we not film, please?

I don't know what to make of that.

Clearly asking about Malaysia
was a very sensitive question.

The comms guy steps in and ends the
interview and I'm left wondering...

..does the person who is meant to
know where this plastic is going

actually know?

I think it's pretty obvious
that this situation isn't

going to be unique to Rhondda.

I've got plastic bags that I picked
up in Malaysia from Braintree

Council, from Milton Keynes Council.

And what I'm beginning to wonder is,

is this actually the picture
all over the UK?

Is it somehow systemic?

And if that's the case,
what's driving it?

And how can it be sorted out?

The person who's ultimately
in charge of our recycling

is the Secretary of State for
the Environment, Michael Gove.

So, I'm going to write to him
to ask for a meeting to discuss

how it can be fixed.

Wet wipes have become
daily essentials.

Before I discovered they contained
plastic, I got through quite a few

for removing make-up.

Look at it.

Perhaps it's no wonder the
global market has increased by 30%

in the last five years.

And the world's second largest
consumer of them is the UK.

Glass wipes, bathroom wipes, facial
cleansing wipes, car wipes!

Toddler wipes, anti-disinfectant,
multi-surface,

antibacterial,
leather cleaning wipe.

Where there's a market,
there's a wipe.

We're now spending almost half a
billion pounds a year on wipes.

These have to be my favourite,
deep-cleaning teeth wipe.

How do you even use one
of these things?

Is that it? Or is it that way?

I don't know. And then
what do you do?

It's quite refreshing.

No, teeth wipe, no!

We've gone mad. Completely mad!

I've brought my wet wipe haul to a
good old-fashioned car-boot sale

in Cardiff.

Morning.

I want to ask people about the
information we're given

detailing what wipes
are really made of.

But first, why do we buy
so many of them?

What's you name? Hilary.

Hilary, nice to meet you, Hilary.

Do you use wipes? Nappy wipes.

For my baby grandson.

I use wipes to clean my utensils
in my house. I use wipes

to clean my cars.

I use wipes for everything.
Do you? Floor wipes.

Kitchen? Oh, yes. Bathroom? Yeah.

Toilets? Yeah. If it makes my house
look good, then, I'll use them.

Ear and eye wipes for your dog.

There you are, how's that?

There's a good girl.

My bin, by the end of the day,

I will be honest,
it's usually full of wet wipes.

What if I were to tell you 90%
of the wipes that you can buy

in Britain have plastic in them?

No way.

Really? Plastic in them?

That's insane.

Oh, my God.

I'm shocked. What do I have to do,
you know?

To continue to use it for my
children or I'll have to stop.

This is the dilemma.

It's not labelled, at all? On... Go
on, have a look. See what you think.

I got the ingredients here, but
there's not a mention of plastic!

Or anything that you can
really understand, right? No, no.

As my car-boot sale visitors are
discovering, the ingredients only

say what's being put ON the wipes.

Nowhere does it list all
the components that make

up the wipes themselves.

I'm surprised that the big
companies aren't doing more.

I think the public needs
be more educated.

They should have it on there.

They're trying to cut
the plastic out.

Quite rightly, people are saying
that the companies have a duty

to tell us what's in them.

This is about letting us make
an informed decision

and we can only make an informed
choice about what we want to buy,

if you tell us the truth
about what we're buying.

And at the moment, we have no idea.

I decide to look a bit deeper
into who's making these wipes

and discover three of the leading
manufacturers keen to point out

their environmental credentials
and that they adhere

to industry best practice.

They are Johnson & Johnson...

"The people of Johnson & Johnson
are about changing the trajectory

"of health for humanity." Wow.

..Procter & Gamble...

"We are committed to deliver
eco-friendly brands that consumers

"can enjoy responsibly."

..and Kimberly-Clark.

"We use sustainable practice
that supports a healthy planet."

These contain plastic.

There is nothing
sustainable about these.

How is this baby wipe, this facial
wipe and these wipes.

how were they benefiting
our planet?

How do these products go
towards a healthier planet?

There's no consistency in the
message that they're portraying

and the products
that they're delivering.

And there's no nowhere on
this product that tells me

it contains plastic.

While there's currently no legal
obligation on the company's part

to label the plastic content,

I'm very interested in
talking to them about how

they're communicating what's
in their wipes to their customers.

Don't you want to know?

Wouldn't you rather that
they've just said, "Yeah, OK,

"You love a wet wipe,
we make them for you,

"by the way, they've got
plastic in them."

And then at least
we have the choice.

It's taken us just 70 years

from the time we started
mass-producing plastic

to clog up our oceans
with the stuff.

But scientists are only beginning
to understand the scale

of the problem.

And what they're telling
us is that plastics

do not degrade harmlessly.

They break up into ever-smaller
pieces.

These microplastics are
poisoning the natural world.

Getting into the bodies
of marine creatures

and entering the food chain.

And it's now emerging that one
particular type of microplastic

is being pumped out of
almost all our homes,

day after day.

So, this is where all of
the washing happens.

It's our first washing lab.

I've brought this polyester
fleece with me.

Fantastic. I've had it for
a couple of years.

I don't wear it massively often,
but it's probably had two

or three washes. OK.

Marine scientist Imogen Napper,
at Plymouth University, has spent

months washing different synthetic
clothes to measure how many

fibres are released.

Imogen, what's actually happening
to these fabrics and their fibres

during the wash? When they're
swishing and swirling

around the water, fibres can detach
from our clothes and go

into the waste water.

But today our mesh is going
to capture any fibres?

Exactly, so we can analyse
them later.

Two-thirds of the clothes we buy
contain plastic.

A 100% polyester fleece like mine
is, quite simply, 100% plastic.

An acrylic sweater is also plastic.

And a T-shirt made from a
polyester-cotton blend is partly,

you guessed it, plastic.

But what happens to all
this plastic when we wash it?

Imogen and I start by
looking at what's come off

my polyester fleece.

Definitely see some stuff.

Mm, you see the fluff
in the tube itself.

If we just rest that there.

Some of that's actually come around
the edges of...oh, my goodness.

So, quite a lot.

And 100% plastic.

At the moment, there's nothing in
the washing machine that's stopping

these fibres going down the drain.

Now, I must admit, I am feeling
kind of ashamed.

Just unleashing that sort of
mess of plastic fibre.

For a typical wash load
of acrylic clothing,

which is about 6kg, up to
700,000 fibres can come

off our clothes and go
down the drain.

That's well on the way to a
million fibres from a single wash.

Then you just start to extrapolate
wash after wash, street after
street,

cities, nations, the whole world.

Billions and billions of fibres
going out down the drain.

Day in, day out.

This doesn't necessarily mean we
should stop buying synthetic
clothes.

Cotton and wool also have
their environmental problems.

Long term, the solution probably
lies in better fabrics,

designed specifically to shed
fewer fibres.

But right now, doing our laundry
on shorter washes and less often

can help reduce what we're
sending down our drains.

To find out where the fibres
we're shedding end up,

I talked to the head of the
university lab, who first coined

the term "microplastics",
Professor Richard Thompson.

We're finding plastic fibres
at the sea surface.

We're even finding them in the deep
sea, thousands of meters down.

We found them in cores of Arctic sea
ice and we're finding them

in the guts of marine organisms.

We know that other types
of microplastic,

typically the more
spherical pieces,

have the potential to cause
harm in some marine invertebrates.

There's every suggestion that
fibres are more likely to cause

entanglement, obstruction
in the guts, possibly.

So, to me, there's
a warning signal here.

So, if they're in the guts
of marine organisms,

we eat marine organisms,

in my case, quite enthusiastically,

should I be worried about
the impact on human health?

To me, it's a cause
for concern today.

But I would be more worried
about your exposure from the air

around you, from particles
falling on your dinner plate

while you're preparing your food,

the quantities are likely to be
far greater than the quantities

that are coming back
onto your dinner plate

from the fish in the sea.

Hang on a moment.

There's plastic in
the air around us?

How is it getting there?

And where from?

Richard directs me to some
cutting-edge research

being carried out
on the rooftops of King's College,

London, by Dr Stephanie Wright.

Good morning, Stephanie.

Hi, Hugh. How are you?
Fine, thanks. How are you?

Yeah, good. Great.

I like your laboratory.

It's nice, isn't it?

It's nice in nice weather.

Stephanie and her team
have been putting a rain gauge

to a novel use.

We are interested in microplastics.

So, dust that settles naturally
out of the atmosphere,

or with rainfall,
gets caught on this surface.

And are you recording
plastics in your data?

We find on average around 700

plastic fibres deposit
per metre squared, per day.

Which doesn't... Sounds like
quite a lot. It does.

And if we can calculate
that up to the just the City

of London borough, that's the
equivalent of over two billion

plastic fibres each day.

So, if we stuck a hoop over
the City of London over there,

two billion tiny plastic particles

settling there every day?
It's a surprise,

because you can't see them.

But the moment you filter a sample
and get under the microscope,

and you see lots of particles.

We found over eight different types
of plastics in our samples.

Polyacrylonitrile was
the most common type.

What you call acrylic?
Acrylic fibre. That's what this is?

Yes. We also commonly
found polyester.

And where do you think these
fibres are coming from?

We think they're coming from
synthetic textiles.

Clothes. Clothing, definitely.

Polyacrylonitrile is commonly used
in outdoor wear,

in outdoor textiles and canvases
and yacht sails, coats.

We're actually shedding fibres,
giving them up into the air.

That's, that's happening
every day, all the time.

Could that be a real health worry?

Potentially, it all depends
on how small these fibres can get

and if they can get to a size
which could enter our airway.

What we know from an industrial
workplace setting is that exposure

to high concentrations of plastic
fibres can cause lung disease.

It can cause inflammation
and can cause

breathing difficulties, wheezing.

But what we don't know is
what exposure to low levels

over our entire lifecourse
might look like.

Two billion microfibres falling
every day on the square mile

of the City of London

feels like a pressing reason
to explore the impact of long-term

exposure on our bodies.

I think I now have a new and
rather alarming perspective

on these tiny plastic particles.

I've thought about them
and worried about them in the sea.

And now I've just discovered
they're everywhere,

they're in the air all around us.

And now just looking around at
everybody who's wearing

synthetic fibres. Well, we're all
potentially just shedding

these fibres into the air
all the time, everywhere we go.

They're, sort of, raining
down invisible all around us.

To get a clearer picture of what
could be happening, I offered

to help with the latest research
into these airborne plastics.

The King's College, London team
have given me some state of the art

sampling kit to bring
to the street in Bristol.

Hello, Caroline. Hi, come in.

That looks pretty heavy.

It is heavy.

Simon and Caroline are the latest
recruits in a ground-breaking

experiment to test the air
for the level of microplastics

within our homes.

This is the first time an experiment
has been done to measure these tiny

plastic microfibres.

So, what we're breathing into our
bodies? To find out how much

we're breathing in, to find out just
how present they are in our lives

and what the consequences
of that could be. Yeah.

The sampling filter can trap
particulates so small

that they could be breathed deep
into our lungs,

where it's more difficult for the
body to get rid of them.

FILTER VIBRATES

All right, it's wheezing.

Let's see if we can make
it a bit quieter for you.

Yeah, soundproof, they said.

Oh, wow.

Not as loud as I was expecting
it to be, which is great.

Well, maybe it's not massively
annoying in your kitchen,

but I have got another
question for you. Oh, right.

I mean, I'd be quite interested to
know what the microfibre situation

is while you're asleep.

OK. OK. Yeah. All right.

It's a nice replacement
for your snoring.

Oh, really? Yeah.

So, you're used to these
kind of noises!

I do suck a lot of microfibres up.

Well, it's very sporting of you.

Time to measure the fibres
in your life.

Next-door neighbours Saskie and Ezra

have also agreed to take part
in the experiment.

And then we'll have to see
what we've caught.

Sounds like a cat.

At the end of three days, the
collection cassettes will be sent

back to the lab at King's College
for analysis.

Goodnight, Ez. Goodnight.

See you in the morning.
See you in the morning.

While Saskie and Ezra wait to find
out if plastic particles are present

in the air they're breathing,

there's one hidden plastic that
they have managed to get rid of.

So, Ez, do you wash
your own face now?

Uh-huh.

And what do you use?

Flannel.

And Ezra's not the only
one to ditch the wipes.

I've got one more wipe left to go.

I cannot, in any sense,
use a wipe now,

having seen that white
mountain thing.

I have never considered
about them having

plastic in. It's cliche, isn't it?

But knowledge is power.

Imagine if we all had this
knowledge about wipes.

That could really make a difference
to the amount of plastic

we're throwing away.

Despite going back and forth
on e-mail with the three leading

companies over the last ten weeks,
they haven't agreed to meet me

to talk about labelling their wipes
to say they contain plastic.

But I have discovered that an
upcoming piece of European

legislation means they'll have
to state this on the pack

in around two years' time.

Even if the UK is no longer
in the EU by then.

It's brilliant.

The only problem is, by the time
this has come into play, let's say

it's two years, we will have used
another 22 billion wet wipes.

It's a mind-boggling amount.

So, I wrote to the wet wipe
companies again asking,

"Will you do the right thing
and immediately add labels to
your packs?"

Procter & Gamble
and Kimberly-Clark acknowledged

they will fall in line with EU
legislation once it's finalised,

but this is unlikely
to be before summer 2021.

Johnson & Johnson's response
is slightly different.

"We will implement these as soon
as the final label format

"is confirmed by legislators."

They think that's April 2020.

But none of them have committed
to putting a label on the pack now.

I know customers want this
information and as they won't

meet me, I'm going to have to think
of a way of asking the question

they can't avoid.

Back on the street, Anna's been
inspired by her change with wipes

to find even more ways to stop
adding new plastic to the bathroom.

I, kind of, put this post out there.

Make all natural cleaning
bits and bobs.

Some people are saying
that they're definitely up

for a little gathering.

Cup of tea, few biscuits, have
a natter, make some toilet bombs.

Joining Anna to see if they can
bring some plastic-free dazzle

to their bathrooms are
Dan, Jodie and Saskie.

Their first task is to create
a household spray cleaner.

Has everybody got an empty
bottle of some sort? Yeah.

Fill an old trigger bottle
with half vinegar, half water.

Add the peel of lemons or oranges...

..followed by a sprinkling
of bicarbonate of soda...

Our grandparents' generation
would have used these same things.

Totally. It's just knowledge
that we've lost.

..and a vigorous shake.

It's cheap, as well. It is, yeah.

But will the spray
bring out the sparkle?

Let's see, all those little bits of
grime are coming off.

It's shiny.

Have a general clean while I'm here.

I'm quite pleased with that.

The next challenge is to make
an explosively effective cleaner

for the toilets.

Some fizzy toilet bombs.

First, choose some scented oil.

Making sure it's from
a sustainable source.

Ahh.

Then mix one and a third cups
of baking soda with half a cup

of citric acid and slowly add
water, scented with the oil.

Mould into small balls and fit
them into a silicon ice tray.

It's going to fizz!
It's going to clean my toilet.

But will these little bath
bombs blitz the bowl?

There we go.

It doesn't look like it's
doing quite what we expected.

It took a little while
to make these and...

..I probably wouldn't bother again.

For those unconvinced by the
handmade route to plastic reduction,

there are a few
simpler bathroom swaps

you could try at home.

A plastic toothbrush can be replaced
by one made of bamboo.

Instead of disposable razors,

you could use a metal one.

And shampoo and conditioner
is also available in bar form.

When it comes to the single-use
plastics we can't do without,

how do we make sure that our
recycling system can deal

with them properly?

I'm still waiting to talk
about that with the Secretary

of State for the Environment,
Michael Gove.

But when I'm asked to speak at a
high-profile event about waste,

there's an unexpected bonus.

One of the other speakers?
Michael Gove.

So, when I'm on stage today
he'll be in the audience.

That's an opportunity
not to be missed.

The Waste to Wealth summit is being
hosted by one of the

Prince of Wales' charities,
Business in the Community.

We are the first generation to know
that we are destroying the world.

And the last that can do
anything about it.

Michael Gove is currently preparing
a new waste and resources strategy,

which I'm hoping he'll be using
to fix our broken recycling system.

Please welcome
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

And he's in the front row,
just where I want him.

Hugh, I mean,
what's your perspective,

from a consumer's standpoint,
on what's going on now?

Only a few weeks ago
I was in Malaysia,

on illegal dump sites,
sometimes the size of two or three

football pitches, with plastic waste
piled in bales.

And it's certainly not the outcome
that people are hoping for,

when they feel that
they're doing the right thing

and putting their plastic recycling
where they're told to put it.

Can I just say that I'm
delighted to see the Secretary

of State here today.

We felt we almost lost him
last week to Brexit.

I'm very much hoping that one
of the reasons he's with us today

is perhaps with a sense
of unfinished business

on this massive issue of waste.

I've got some of my message across,
but at the post-event mingle,

I want to pin the Secretary of State
down about our meeting

to discuss the issue properly.

Very nice to see you.
Very good to see you.

I hope that what we can do in the
waste and resources strategy

will go at least some of the way to
making you think that the government

is taking this seriously.

And as I say, I wouldn't expect
you to, to, sort of, plant

an endorsement on it,

but, but your challenge is so
important and thank you.

Well, thanks very much.

I mean, what I would really love and
I'm hearing noises that you're up

for a proper sit-down chat about it
sometime... Definitely. Oh,
absolutely. ..soon, because that's

where we get to hear how the
actions will match the rhetoric.

So, I think we can say the
meeting's in the bag.

But before that happens,
I want to understand

how our recycling system is allowing
thousands of tonnes of our plastic

to cause serious problems
on the other side of the world.

So, I've been pressing the councils
whose bags I found in Malaysia

for answers.

I have now heard
back from Rhondda council,

that they've been consulting with
their exporter, Lovell Recycling,

who has confirmed that all materials
have followed the correct procedure

and that they're unaware
how the material

could have been found
without being processed.

The council also says that they
no longer use this company

and that since the end of May 2018,
they haven't exported any waste

materials outside of the EU.

Milton Keynes tell me they "have
confidence in their supply chain"

and believe their sacks
did not come from their

own materials disposal.

And Braintree say that before May
2018 they were exporting bags

to Malaysia, where they believed
they were correctly processed.

But none of this really stacks
up with what I saw in Malaysia.

In one way or another, they're
all saying, "Well, we followed

"the procedure, we did
what we're meant to do."

And I can see that if these
councils are just allowed to fill

in the forms and send their stuff
off, it isn't really their fault.

The system is wrong.

So, how do you fix the system
so that we can all be confident

that when we put out our recycling,
it all actually gets recycled?

And who should be paying
for that to happen?

Our cash strapped councils
or the companies churning out

the plastic in the first place.

I have come to talk to Head of
Technology and Innovation at waste

management company Veolia,
Richard Kirkman.

So, if you think about making
products, everyone understands

there's a cost to make it, not
so many people think about the cost

to de-make it.

So, we're talking... To recover it
and to recycle. To recover it
and to recycle it has,

you know, costs associated to it.

Manufacturers today are only paying
10% of that, local authorities

are paying the rest.

So, if you put the cost in the hands
of the people that make it,

they will redesign things
like this, so that they're easier

to recycle, because it's their
cost if they're not recycled.

So, this is a big shift in
incentive, so that producers...

..it really is in their interest
to do everything they can to make

something easily recyclable.

Yeah, the big things that we need
to do are change the packaging tax

to a extended producer
responsibility, where they pay

the full costs. The full cost?
So, 100%. 100%.

And that cost will also be
passed on to consumers.

The producers aren't
going to just take that hit.

But as a consumer,
you will have some choice,

to buy more or less packaging.

To buy reusable coffee cup
or reusable water bottle,

rather than buy new things.

If the government puts everything
in place that you're hoping for,

does this mean there should be no
reason to export low-grade plastics

outside of the UK, where they could
end up in places like Malaysia

who just can't cope with them?

If we're exporting waste which
are disposed of irresponsibly,

that's not acceptable
and that will shut down,

I really believe it will.

I can see that if companies
were made responsible for 100%

of the cost of recycling
their plastic packaging,

that would really focus their minds.

The big question here is
has the Secretary of State

got his head around it?

Is he prepared to do
what's necessary?

Finally, the day of
our meeting is here

and I have the chance
to ask just that.

Hi, Hugh.

Good morning. How are you?
Welcome to DEFRA.

Very nice to see you.

And I haven't come empty handed.

This is just a tiny sample...

..of plastic waste... Yes. ..that
I found in Malaysia, from the UK.

And... Yes, that's terrible.
..for the context,

to see some of the images
we brought back.

And you can take that and just
scroll through. Yes, of course.

These sites are generally
illegal. On many of them there's

very little indication that any of
the material will be ever recycled.

What would UK taxpayers think
if they knew that their best efforts

at recycling were ending
up in that sort of scenario?

Well, as a UK taxpayer myself,
I think it's horrendous

and I think that's why
we need change.

Companies, retailers who produce
a lot of plastic waste and packaging

are paying 10% of the cost
of clearing up and recycling.

What do you think should be an
appropriate amount for them to pay?

I think the producers should pay
as much as possible. Consistent

with making sure that we can
maintain the recycling capacity

and invest in the
recycling capacity that we need.

Merely to keep step in Europe,

do you know what the obligations
should be? How much of a percentage?

I would think that it would be
easily more than 50.

But you don't know the figure? No.

I mean, you've hazarded a
slightly random 50%... Above 50%.

..it's a bit of a, bit of a
hedging of bets.

Yes. Were we to continue...
Well, quite. ..in Europe,

there would be an obligation
to pay 80%. Mm.

Yes. But, but also there are a lot
of people saying

that that responsibility belongs
entirely to producers and retailers

and that they should pay 100%.

I absolutely accept the case
and I think that you'd...

You accept the case for 100%?

I accept the case that they
should pay more, absolutely.

I want to make sure that industry,
on the principle, the polluter
should pay,

takes a heavier share of the
responsibility for making sure...

Heavier... ..we deal with this
material. ..heavier would be 12%,
at the moment, wouldn't it?

Yes, but... Not massive improvement.

..heavier would be 10.5,

but we're not talking about,
that we're talking about making sure

that we proceed in a way
so that producers,

those who are responsible
for generating this waste,

take greater responsibility.

You and other campaigners have done
this country a service by shining

a light on a situation which is,
frankly, indefensible.... That's
very kind of you,

Minister, but we're now waiting for
you to do this country a service.

..no, I agree. The ball is really
in your court. I understand.

It remains to be seen whether
the minister really has the guts

and the gumption to push
through recycling reform

that will make a real difference.

The good news is that
he's agreed to see me again,

so I can keep piling
on the pressure.

The street in Bristol
are three-quarters of the way

through their four- month experiment
to reduce the single-use plastic

in their lives.

And in the last month, residents
have found different ways

to reduce the plastic
in their bathrooms.

I bought thi big jar of coconut
oil and I've been using

this and it's a moisturizer.

Kind of, changed my mind-set.

The deli up the road has started
doing shampoo, body wash.

We're saving money by coming
to do the refills

and actually these are changes
that I can work...

..into my week.

That whole side of the bath was
covered in plastic bottles.

Stuff that we weren't
really using, as well. Just stuff.

The most dramatic change
on the street

has been after they learnt a simple
fact about a hidden plastic.

Used the last of my wet wipes.

We are now a wipe-free house.

If only we were all as
well-informed as the street.

As the wet wipe companies
won't meet me to explain why

they can't put a label
on their packs now,

my last hope is to turn up
at their UK headquarters myself.

I want to engage with them.

I want them to tell me why they
don't want to do anything
immediately.

So, I've asked the designer
to come up with something

that might be a little bit
harder for them to ignore.

I don't really know what to expect.

What is that?!

# A change, it had to come... #

Wipes contain plastic.

Oh, my God! That's amazing.

Wiping the baby's backside
with a plastic bag.

Wow that's really shocking,
actually,

when you look at it like that.

# Take a bow for the new revolution

# Smile and grin at the change... #

Why can't you come clean
and stick it on the pack now?

Someone's going to have to come
and talk to me, aren't they?

They can't ignore that.

Let's take it to them!

# Get on my knees and pray... #

ANITA LAUGHS

# We don't get fooled again. #

I want to take my ad van
to Procter & Gamble,

Johnson & Johnson and
Kimberly-Clark.

Surely they can't turn me
away if I rock up in this.

So, we're heading in now
to Procter & Gamble.

In that building is somebody
who can answer my questions.

Let's get noticed, shall we?

I've also brought along a couple
of the P & G brands,

with a little added extra to show
that changing their labelling

really isn't that hard.

I've managed to get some suggested
ideas knocked up very quickly,

couple of days, in fact.

I've got a camera on, because
I'm not going to take

you guys with me, you're going
to stay put in the car.

Here's my microphone.

Right, wish me luck.

Hello, there. I was wondering
if somebody was available

to talk to me today.

Have you got an appointment?
I've got no appointment,

but I've come a long way
to talk to them.

Yes, that's my van.

Yeah.

No-one would speak to me on camera
to answer my question about why

they can't change
their labelling now.

Perhaps I'll have better luck
at Johnson & Johnson.

Just pull up in here, I think.

Morning, I've been e-mailing
about the labelling

on your wet wipe packaging.

I've got a list of names here.
Have you spoken to these already?

No, I haven't. I would like
to speak to them.

Thank you.
PHONE RINGS

Hi, there. Hi, What's your name?

Melissa, nice to meet you. Melissa,
what department are you in? Legal.

Legal, excellent.

The simple question is, why not
just put "wet wipes contain plastic"

on your packaging right now?

Unfortunately, there's no-one
here to speak to you right now.

Yeah. But, pass on your details to
our media team and ask them to get

in contact with you. Yeah, even
better, the person who actually

deals with packaging
would be fantastic.

I'm going to leave you with these.

Put some stickers on, to say
that wet wipes contain plastic.

You know, it's not that difficult.

The companies won't give me
an answer to my question on e-mail,

they won't talk to me when
I turn up in my van.

I mean, what's a girl got to do?

When I stopped for a cuppa,
I'm after a bit of moral support.

I think people need to know.

But they're not going to do
anything for at least a year.

Doesn't make sense,
does it? Be honest!

That's all.

Why do you need a year or two?
Do it now.

How much, how much of a problem
is it going to be to actually

put an extra bit on a label?

Totally agree! Yeah.

Thank you, Stephanie.
You've boosted me. Good!

I will go and tell them
exactly that, then.

Good! You should.

All the best. Bye, now.

It's time for the last HQ
of the day.

Kimberly-Clark, I'm on my way.

Fliers, check.

Camera, check.

Microphone, check.

List of names, check.
And Huggies, check.

Rush hour, check.

Let's see if we can get some
answers out of Kimberly-Clark.

Hello, there. I have been e-mailing
your press office

and I was wondering if there was
anybody around to talk to me

about wet wipes.

I've got a list of names
here, Marketing Director

and Marketing Manager,
Head of Packaging. OK.

President of Consumer Business,

Environment and Sustainability
Leader. I'm just checking.

UK Manufacturing Director,
Head of Media?

Not available.

Head of Packaging would be great.

That's my instruction,
is to get you to e-mail.

I've done that, I've been doing
it for three months.

Hello, there.

Simon Ashwell. From what department?

Um, from our legal team.

O. Hello, I'm Stuart.
Hello, Stuart. Hello.

It's a BBC series about plastic and
we're looking at the labelling

of wet wipes and we know that
you're aware of legislation,

and we've been told that you will
just wait to see what happens

before you start labelling things.

I mean, all I want to know is
why you can't just do it now?

So, I've got flyers made up
of my van.

I'm going to leave those, as well,
and the wet wipes.

And it's about having a
conversation. Yes, I understand.

From our press office. Yes.
Can they have a quick word?

Yes, absolutely.

Hello, there.

Anita Rani, we're making
a programme about plastic.

Would you be able to put someone
forward for an interview?

Could we get that organised?

The press office say they will
look into arranging an interview.

Thank you so much. Press office
and two of the legal team.

That's it. Come on, you can tell me.

You're waiting for legislation,
come on.

She's going to give you a call,
she's told you that.

But are you, just, can you tell me
if you're having a discussion
about it?

I've said what we're going to do.
All right. We've told you already.

They know I mean business.

I've spoken to the press team,
I've been face-to-face with two

of the lawyers, they're pretty
important, aren't they?

There's definitely people still in
that building, cos the lights are on

and I think they know
I'm still sniffing around.

So, Kimberly-Clark,
if you're in there,

put a label on your wipes, please!

So, despite saying they'd look into
it, when I went to see them a few

days ago, Kimberly-Clark have
refused to meet me face-to-face.

And along with Johnson & Johnson,
Procter & Gamble, all three of them

have said that they always
comply with labelling regulations.

But here's a question for you,

why not do something
about it right now?

What's stopping you?

So, I think, we can assume,
unless it tells us to the contrary

somewhere on the pack,
that wet wipes contain plastic.

A few weeks ago, two houses on our
street in Bristol had samples

of air collected from their
kitchens and bedrooms.

These have now been analysed

by toxicology researcher
Joseph Levermore.

He's looking for plastic particles
small enough to breathe deep

into our lungs, where they could
potentially be doing damage.

I'm joining Saskie and Caroline
and Simon to hear the results.

Results day. Yes.

This is, sort of, finding out
whether, actually,

we were better off not knowing.

DOORBELL RINGS

Hey, yeah, I'm Joseph.

Hiya, I'm Saskie.

Hi, nice to meet you. Hi, Saskie.

What have you found, Joseph?

So, I wasn't expecting at all
to find any plastics

within the inhalable size range,
and yet we've been able

to find things that have
the potential to be deposited

within the alveoli region
of the lungs,

which is penetrating deep
into those areas of the lung.

And that's in both the houses?

Yes, in both the houses.

And that is the first
identification of these particles

to be present of that composition.

And then, the first time that these
have actually been found

within England, as a whole.
Do you know which rooms

they were found,
where they in all rooms or...?

It seems, based on this result,
that because this way,

plastics are consistent from kitchen
to bedroom, that there's a presence

of particles within
the entire house.

Wow, blimey.
Do you know the effects

the accumulation of those things
are having on the human body yet?

For plastics, no.

This is the start, I would say,
of quite a lot of work

that needs to be done.

It's urgent to understand
the concentrations and the harm

that these things pose.

It's very early days for this
research, but it feels like we need

to take these findings seriously.

We could be inhaling this stuff
with every breath we take.

It's just been a surreal evening...

..that sets off yet another alarm
about the problems that plastic

is causing in our lives.

And this isn't next to some
toxic industrial plastics dump.

It's in somebody's home,
in a quiet street in Bristol.

Which is no different
from any other home

up and down the country.

We don't know what the effect
of these tiny particles

is on our health.

And to me, right now, not
knowing feels pretty scary.

And we should be scared.

Maybe we need to be scared,
maybe only by being scared

for our own health,
for our own lives,

are we going to be concerned
enough

to actually do
something about plastics.

Next time, I join two young girls
to ask why one of the best-known

companies is giving away
over a billion pieces

of plastic each year.

Can we just tell you what
the girls are here... No.

..you've not even asked
us what we're here to do yet.

I have never in my life
experienced anything like that.

While I head to the beating heart
of the UK's plastics industry.

We'd be using the same
sort of power as say,

three major Scottish cities.
Combined? Combined, yeah.

And the end of the
big street experiment reveals

whether it's really possible
to reduce the plastic in our lives.

The figure today...

..is...