This is Climate to Action, a CSUSM student podcast.
We amplify voices, explore solutions to the climate
crisis, and confront climate injustices for all
living things. I'm your host, Molly Sarawatari.
Here at C2A, we are committed to providing a
variety of perspectives for addressing the climate
crisis in every episode. Stay tuned for the end
of the episode where we provide ways you can
take action for yourself. First, we'd like to
acknowledge that our recording studio is on the
traditional territory of the Luceño -Payacuichan
people. CSUSM and its surrounding areas are still
home to six federally recognized bands of the
La Jolla, Pala, Palma, Pechanga, Rincon, and
Saboba Luceño -Payacuichan people. This land
is also a shared space among the Copeño, Kumeyaay,
and Ipai peoples. Climate to Action is starting
a series of conversations featuring CSUSM students
who are taking climate action. For today's episode,
we are thrilled to introduce a special guest,
Tyler Weinstock. Tyler is an environmental studies
major and an intern at Plastic Beach, a local
nonprofit here in North County. Tyler, why don't
you tell me a little bit more about yourself?
Hello. Thank you for having me. This is so cool.
It's actually really cool to be a student here
and see the creation of a podcast room. That's
really cool. I'm Tyler. I'm an ENVS student here.
I'm a senior. I graduate. Hopefully this semester.
Me too. Okay. And yeah, last semester to two
semesters ago, I went on a field trip to Plastic
Beach, learned all about it, and I wanted to
spread the word. Fire. All right. Well, for our
listeners who maybe aren't so familiar, since
this podcast is for anyone and everyone, plastics
are a major contributor to climate change since
they are primarily from fossil fuels. These fossil
fuels release greenhouse gases during their extraction,
production, and disposal, pretty much their beginning,
middle, and end. The increasing production of
plastics is expected to triple by 2060, reminding
us how much plastic affects our world. My first
question, for anyone who might not be familiar,
For you, Tyler, can you explain what Plastic
Beach is? I know it's an organization, but what
is their overall mission? What do they stand
for? And what problem is Plastic Beach really
trying to solve, and why does it matter right
now? Okay, so yeah, Plastic Beach is a nonprofit
organization that takes waste at a residential
level and at a corporate level from local organizations.
And they collect the thin film plastic, so low
-density and high -density polyethylene plastics,
twos and fours, really. And they take it back
to their warehouse. They bale it. A bale is basically
just compressing it into a big square. And then
they ship that into the Arizona organization
called Trex. That's one of them that uses that
plastic to create outside decking for homes.
So it's like a wood compost slash plastic compost
composite. Oh, that's really cool. And then you
said plastic two and four. Maybe some of our
listeners aren't quite sure like what that is
because different plastics are different, you
know. Yeah. Is there what's a very common tool
for level plastic? Yeah. So like saran wrap or
Amazon packaging or the. Like dry cleaner plastics
that hang over your clothes, like anything that's
that's stretchy and that you can push your thumb
in and see a little indent. So like our soft
plastics. Yeah. Awesome. Well, one of the things
I found really interesting when I was researching
Plastic Beach is how it started. Can you talk
a little bit about Matthew, the man who started
Plastic Beach and what inspired him to create
it? Matthew is such a guy. So he actually is
originally from the UK. Really? Yeah. I love
his accent. But what he was before this was actually
a paramedic. And he used to work on ambulances.
And he saw that there was just a huge issue with
plastic. He got to a point in his career where
he stopped working as a paramedic and then he
fully dived, like him and his wife, full head
-on speared the Plastic Beach Initiative and
created this great hyper -local program in San
Diego to collect thin film plastic. Wow, that's
pretty cool. Talking about career change. I know,
it's a complete shift. So we cover Matthew. I
kind of want to bring it back to you in your
own experience. You talked about in the beginning
of the podcast that you found Plastic Beach on
a field trip and you just fell in love with it.
Was there something that necessarily drew you
into it like that? You absolutely like like what
was that like aha moment that, oh, my gosh, this
is like I want to work here. And how did you
get involved? A lot of students don't maybe know
how to get involved with these kind of organizations.
Yeah, I have been interested in environmental
issues since high school, like sophomore year.
From then, obviously, I went to college. But
when I went to what it was, shout out Shannon
Swanson, what it was. Yeah, she's literally the
best. She took us to Plastic Beach and my entire
time here at college, I've been wanting to find
something that either an organization or a company
or whatever it was that dealt with waste in a
proper way. Because in my eyes, what I want to
focus on in my career is waste, waste management.
And when we went to Plastic Beach, I was so happy
to see this, again, local organization that is
dealing with waste in a very effective way. And
in a way that is an easy way to do it if you
actually wanted to do it. And I thought it was
really cool. I mean, Matthew was great. His team
is amazing. They take care of me. Shout out to
you guys. But yeah, I think what really drew
me in was the fact that it was a viable solution
that can be done. It doesn't have to be like
this one big company. It could be us at home
dealing with. this waste on our own level so
it's just very easy to attain that habit right
did you expect it when you first went on those
field trips and walked those doors did you expect
it to be at this level of involvement now no
of course not I was driving up I remember I was
driving it's all the way I live in San Diego
proper but it's all the way in Encinitas and
I was driving up like any any field trip and
I'm like yeah sure like another field right yeah
um but then when I got there I was kind of taken
back I was like okay this is actually I need
to lock in and listen to what you're saying.
And that five commute is rough. Yes. Rough. Yes.
But hey, it was worth it. It was worth it. So
from your perspective, how do you believe that
Plastic Beach is different from other environmental
or nonprofit or profit organizations that you've
maybe heard about, especially like maybe some
in San Diego as well? How does it differ? Obviously,
Matthew's from the UK. That's pretty cool. How
does it differ from these other organizations?
Yeah, I think what is like the very big factor
that sets them apart is that it's very accessible.
It's very local and they're very transparent
in. The way they operate and they are they if
you go to plastic beach comm they have literally
every single Partner that they're dealing with
how they operate what they do in their system
of operations it's I think what sets them apart
is their clarity in their systems of operation
and Their true desire for change in plastic Yeah.
And that's something that I think a lot of people
don't think about is change doesn't have to start
at an international or even national level. It
starts at a local level. Getting involved with
these organizations like Plastic Beach can be
your first step to combating climate change.
And then soft plastics can't be recycled most
of the time. So then you can actually take them
to places like Plastic Beach where they get to
go and they can be made, you said, for wood decks
for houses. Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah, I think.
Yeah. And I totally agree because they are. Like
you just said, they are making a market for these
plastics where there is no market. I mean, in
America, there's, I believe, seven plastics,
right? Like one to seven? I think so, yeah. But
there's no true market for these plastics. So
they end up in the landfills creating methane
and the list goes on of the repercussions. What
they're doing, being set apart, is actually creating
a market for these plastics to be reused and
recycled. Right. And that's great because Ziploc
bags are soft plastic. And in the fall, they
literally got recalled because if you don't keep
them at a certain temperature, the chemicals
leak into your food. So here's a better way to
actually use these plastics for something good.
Yeah. Anyway, so one thing I think that Plastic
Beach does really well is connecting with students
like yourself and having field trips. Dr. Swanson's
class, shout her out. Can you talk about how
Plastic Beach is integrated here at CCUSM and
what does that relationship look like necessarily
in practice? Yeah, I believe there was an intern
before me either last year or the year before.
I don't really know. And she used to do table
talks. What that means for me is kind of the
same thing. So he didn't really have a base of
what the intern should do other than that last
intern and the small things that she did or big.
I don't actually know, but no disrespect. But
what he wants from us is to just have student
outreach. I mean. I went on that field trip in
my junior year of studying environmental science.
I went three years without knowing what is going
on. And again, and this is in Encinitas, in my
local area. So what we do is we take the either
local offices, like there's only certain offices
around the campus that take part in it just because
it is so hard and we do have a budget at CSUSM.
But it's taken from school offices. It's taken
from the cafeteria. And there's drop points.
I believe there's one right by PSI. What's that?
um parking garage ps1 ps1 it's right under there
it's yellow bin you could see it i look at oh
i know exactly what bins you're talking about
when i worked with sustainability i would pull
those bins yes and have to yes i know exactly
what bins are talking yes so i think it's marissa
who yeah who collects them and if it's not her
then it's somebody usually like i was a zero
waste student assistant yes before eb shout out
eb love her that's my esa press but yeah those
bins they usually collect them um But yeah, I
know exactly. There's one behind by the dome
where the student store is. There's one over
there. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I think there's
three altogether. And I think collectively last
year, I know that they produced like six hundred
and eight pounds. Holy cow. Which I mean, again,
this is. thin film plastic that weighs nothing
so 600 pounds is crazy and that's just at one
school yeah but yeah so it's just those bins
uh collection and things like this getting on
a podcast talking to just spreading the word
of what he does absolutely and you talked about
how you didn't learn about it till you were a
junior i was an envs major now i'm just a sustainability
minor and i just found out about it because of
you as a senior like we've officially got like
to unk status basically and we found out about
it so like yeah we're old and you know here and
yeah so that's really cool i plan on i mean i
just i was talking to um the different professors
in this envs major um i'm graduating so the internship
space will be vacant so if anyone's listening
that wants to be a part of this please do um
sign up it's on the service learning database
it's the most fun easy getting to know your students
local students same internship same thing with
the podcast I'm also graduating so if you want
to be a podcaster and get to talk to cool people
like Tyler Like, you know, hit up, hit me up,
hit up the Climate to Action Instagram. Anyway,
getting a little bit more back on track. So you
talked about, you know, the field trip and everything.
Did you notice any other students kind of going
through that same aha moment that you have? Like,
did you guys like talk about it? Anything like
that? Did you talk to like, obviously, Dr. Swanson
about it? For sure. I mean, there was a multitude
of us that stayed after for I mean, I stayed
for literally an hour just chatting with the
lady who gave us a tour. I think one of the biggest
reasons why there is an AHA is because it's a
tactical experience that students can see that's
being done. Because I think there is a sort of
disconnect with education and actual grasping
of things how you can use and where organizations
work to the education. So it is really cool that
we were able to go there and see that. I mean,
like I said, I saw... bunch of students just
sit there and be in awe that the fact that this
is right here like literally in their backyard
yeah pretty much for sure there's definitely
a huge disconnect with education and firsthand
experiences yes and that's what's so important
about like podcasts like this or like people
like you spitting the word about local organizations
um and to look at more of a broader picture about
like just people who maybe haven't had the opportunity
to be an envs major or i know my initial thing
was i took apes in high school and i was like
oh my gosh I love the environment. I want to
do something with it. So how do you think these
organizations like Plastic Beach help create
that stronger connection between nonprofits and
students, especially students who maybe are ENBS
majors? Yeah, I think it's just growth of community.
I think it is a way to have outreach towards
not only students, but even the community. Again,
it's not only through universities. It's also
through residents of San Diego. So I think things
like this, I mean, this is mainly student listened
to, but I don't know. They go to their parents'
house. They say, hey, look at this cool little
thing. We can sign up. It's a very small subscription.
I think that it's just, again, it's very accessible.
Exactly. Like, I think that's really cool because
it's this certain kind of learning, especially
in our older generations, like you said, going
home, maybe telling their roommates or their
parents, grandparents and these older generations
who didn't have a lot of education on the environment.
They had what the in the boom, the environmental
boom in the 70s, but they've never taken a class
with like Dr. Valle or Dr. Swanson or even Ann
Dabb, who is currently taking pictures of us.
So like they just I don't know. It's something
really cool. It's this small fee. How much is
it? Yeah. It ranges based on the size of your
bin. So I think here at San Marcos, we have two
different bin sizes, one small and then one big
for the cafeteria. Right. Yeah. So like let's
say you just do just like a lot of people have
like a small compost bins. I know the dorms used
to have. Yeah. It's like a bathroom trash can.
So let's say you do something similar with your
soft plastics because realistically. They don't
take up a ton of space. No. And so families can
actually start doing that. And that's $14. That's
a Starbucks coffee and a bacon gouda. Love me
a bacon gouda. Me too. It's my go -to. Yeah,
and I think what's even easier is the size of
these bags. I mean, I believe the smallest size
is the size of a pillowcase. And it's an actual
baggie that... that plastic beach gives you.
So you don't even have to, to go out of your
way. They give you all the things that you need.
It's, I think that one's, what did you say? 14
or seven? $14. $14. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just,
it's so easy. And again, it's so accessible.
Like everybody can do it. It's a, it's not some
corporation thing that needs to be only implemented
in. high operating factories it could be in your
home with yeah your little amazon packages right
and these are these are simple like solutions
to a bigger issue like i mentioned issue like
like i mentioned earlier climate change is not
a okay i'm gonna work up and then boom big solution
it's combating climate change is a slow moving
process for sure you know everybody's heard take
shorter showers but there's things like that
where yeah like sometimes you know my girls and
maybe my guys we love our everything showers
you know sometimes a girl just needs to decompress
in the shower after work or school right like
when you get home and you just had that exam
and you're like oh my god i need like a warm
shower but there's things you can do like um
investing in plastic beach and like i said just
i i know i know we love our coffees guys but
don't get a coffee and a little sweet treat that
day i know that's a big ask but Then once a month
you or instead of not getting coffee in your
sweet treat, maybe skip out on like, I don't
know, I'm such a sucker of buying sushi at the
USU. Maybe I skip out on that and I actually
like meal prep like or eat my meal prep that
I already made. I'm supposed to make, you know,
like there's little things that you can do to
like help yourself invest in this climate change.
Yeah. And like you said, we're entering a time
period where. The elder generation didn't have
this technology, but it's not even technology
because it's literally as simple as redirecting
where your hand goes and which trash can. And
I think that we're just at a breaking point time.
And this is one of those companies that helps
with that breakthrough and another small step
into the climate action. Absolutely. So what
do you think students can gain from this kind
of involvement just beyond obviously the obvious
volunteer hours or student? What is it? Student
learning or some service learning? That's what
it's called. Or like service learning hours.
What do you think students can gain from like
not even necessarily volunteering with them,
but just switching to Plastic Beach and using
that to recycle soft plastics? I think education,
growth, growth in your environmental education
and where. your waist truly goes. I mean, I think
there is a big gap, another gap in where people
know where the waist goes. And I think one thing
that they can take away is, again, I'm going
to say again, how accessible it is to do and
really learn where your waist is going and how
you can divert. different way i mean you can
start with plastic beach because they only do
twos and fours but then maybe you learn about
a company that does compost and then you like
the lumi i know does from the solana center you
start with that too and then again it's just
like these steps that you take to yeah to get
your picture yeah and educating yourself on maybe
what what actually goes in what bin yes like
a lot of people think single -use utensils can
be recycled they can't no or like i've taught
my grandparents because i currently live with
my grandparents that green bin that like their
plants and tree leaves go in yeah i just yeah
okay that their plants that they're like plants
and sticks and all that fun stuff goes in when
my grandma's like gardening you can throw your
food in that bin too your food scraps that's
the compost bin Yeah, I think the education part
really is a big hitter for Plastic Beach because,
I mean, they have it labeled. They give you a
full placard of what can go in where and the
types of plastic. And again, again, again, again,
it's so accessible. It's like too easy. Right.
It really is. Yeah. And like that's what a lot
of like things are. They're just so easy that
you don't even. Think about them, I guess. Yeah.
Well, anyway, Tyler, thank you so much for taking
the time to speak and educate us today, especially
on Plastic Beach. Now that we're nearing the
end of our podcast, I'd like to introduce to
you our tradition of offering our listeners a
chance to implement something into their own
lives that helps combat climate change in some
small way. In other words, it's our call to action.
What is one thing our listeners can do to contribute
to climate action in their own lives today? I
really thought hard on this, actually. I have
two answers, if that's okay with you. Yeah, give
them. One answer is that just because there is
a system that is in place does not mean that
that system needs to stay in place for the rest
of eternity. Yep, clock it. I think that there
needs to be a big... I mean, I hope I inspire
people and Matthew inspires people and other
organizations like this to push for a paradigm
shift in the way things are being ran right now,
especially in this country, because this country,
I mean, it's like less than 10 % is recycled.
It's truly recycled in all of the gross of America.
So I think just push for a paradigm shift in
the way things operate and the systems that operate.
The other thing is that I think that we just
need to sit down and have a conversation with
one another on issues and possible solutions
rather than arguing, you believe this, you believe
that. It's just you, you, you finger pointing.
When we're all in this together, we need to sit
down, be in each other's shoes, and find a solution,
get to a point where we can have a productive
earth. That's not just dying anymore, but we're
actually helping it survive. I truly resonate
with both of those. They really hit close to
home. And I hope like it's just inspired me sitting
here with you today, learning about our local
nonprofits. And I hope it does the same for our
listeners around the world. So, yes, please.
Also, I thought about another one. Please do
your research. Yes. Do in -depth research about
what is going on. Don't take things for face
value. Yes. Dive in. Absolutely. I'm done. No
more calls to action. Well, thank you for opening
my mind and hopefully the mind of our listeners.
Want to hear more from Climate to Action, a CSUSM
student podcast? Be sure to check us out wherever
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at Climate to Action. That's at Climate to Action
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Beach on Instagram. And of course, follow at
Climate to Action for much, much more. Climate
to Action is recorded at Inspiration Studios
on the CSUSM campus. Our podcast is funded in
part by a generous donation from the Rosemary
Raymer Great Foundation. Remember, it's never
too late to start making a difference in the
climate crisis. Keep learning, keep acting, and
keep pushing for change. Until next time, this
is Climate to Action signing off.