00:06Hitting everything from rapids to branches to rocks takes its toll on the boats,
00:11which end up as plastic waste on a large scale.
00:15But a local initiative in southern France has risen to the plastic waste challenge
00:19and found a sustainable solution by turning old kayaks into designer furniture.
00:25Here's how it starts.
00:34Jules grew up on the Drôme, a mountain river in southern France.
00:38He has been showing tourists how to have fun on the water for years.
00:44That was a typical example.
00:47We were moving slowly, but the rocks scraped the bottom of the kayak and could have damaged it.
00:53This happens all the time, especially in July and August, when the river is shallow.
01:03Jules' boss, Pierre Capier, has had to scrap many kayaks.
01:08He's been renting boats to tourists here in the small village of Sayan for almost 20 years.
01:13He knows that the boats don't last forever, that some scratches and holes can't be repaired.
01:19These five boats have to be recycled.
01:22We navigate rivers that wear the boats down quite badly, so after a while they can no longer be repaired.
01:29We're happy that we can now have the boats recycled, shredded, so that they can be made into new objects.
01:36The damaged boats are loaded onto trucks and transported 20 kilometers upstream to a recycling center in the town of D.
01:51Here they're cut up, cleaned, and then shredded.
02:01For plant manager Baptiste Jamais, plastic is a valuable resource that creates local jobs.
02:06The people working here are being reintegrated into the workforce.
02:12Most of their salaries are being paid by the government.
02:15We offer them the opportunity to find a job again and return to the labor market, which is really valuable.
02:23France recycles too little plastic waste, still incinerating or dumping much of it.
02:33In recent years, it has ranked near the bottom of the EU.
02:36That's set to change.
02:38Facilities like recycling centers are now being subsidized with public funds.
02:42We want to recycle 10 tons of plastic this year.
02:50We're aiming for 100 tons within five to six years.
02:59The kayak's journey continues 40 kilometers downstream to the furniture maker Fab Unit in the town of Cray.
03:07The old plastic is turned into sheets.
03:10First, the pellets are poured into frames and then placed into a press heated to 190 degrees Celsius.
03:20Last year, we processed nearly 150 boats, around six tons worth that was collected, processed, and recycled.
03:30Carole Tourigny and Fab Unit are part of the International Precious Plastic Network,
03:35an open source project that develops plastic recycling machines and allows others to download their blueprints free of charge.
03:47To be able to accept large orders for 800 chairs or more, the small company cooperates with other French workshops turning old plastic into new furniture.
03:56We're looking for new production models.
04:01We want to move away from a globalized, centralized system toward decentralized production facilities located across the country, which can function as a network and compete with the large companies.
04:18And presto! That's how kayaks are turned into simple, functional, and modern designer furniture.
04:28The tourists are impressed.
04:31It's a good idea that produces less waste.
04:36It's great that a local initiative is recycling the boats locally.
04:42It's twice as fun going down the drum, knowing that the boat will have a second life.
04:53Could new kayaks made from recycled plastic soon be coming down the drum?
04:58The raw material, at least, is there for the taking.
05:00Thanks for the taking.
05:01Time for the taking.
05:02Thanks for ending.
05:05About three months with the defence, bilateral
