How seaweed could help turn the tide on plastic pollution | March 31, 2026

0:11 Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are in this world.

0:14 I'm Coy Wire.

0:14 This is CNN 10.

0:15 I have your 10 minutes of news with stories from all around the globe today.

0:19 But on this final day of the month, March 31st, let's kick it off with this.

0:24 On this day, 137 years ago, the Eiffel Tower was officially completed.

0:30 The iconic landmark was built as the centerpiece of the 1889 Paris Exposition,

0:36 a world's fair marking the centennial anniversary of the French Revolution.

0:40 Construction took more than 2 years.

0:43 The French feat of engineering stands more than 1,000 ft tall

0:47 and contains roughly 18,000 individual pieces of iron weighing about 7,300 tons.

0:53 The tower stood as the tallest structure in the world for more

0:57 than 40 years before being dethroned by the Chrysler Building in New York.

1:01 And get this, the tower was supposed to be temporary.

1:04 The original plan was to dismantle it after 20 years,

1:08 much to the relief of some Parisian elites who saw it as an eyesore.

1:12 But science saved the day.

1:14 The tower proved itself to be an indispensable asset for emerging

1:18 radio transmission technology and it's served as a vital antenna ever since.

1:24 These days, La Dame de Fer, or the Iron Lady,

1:28 continues standing tall above the city of lights offering unparalleled views

1:32 to nearly 7 million visitors from around the world each year.

1:36 I think it's really iconic, you know, like when you think about Paris,

1:39 you think about that, about the Eiffel Tower.

1:42 It's just a symbol of Paris.

1:43 It's a symbol.

1:44 It's a symbol.

1:45 It represents France.

1:46 It's one of the prestigious monuments,

1:48 as you can see with the number of tourists around us.

1:51 The tower's history is as unique as its architecture.

1:54 Did you know it was originally painted red?

1:57 And it was even briefly yellow.

1:59 Or did you know that it's taller in the summertime

2:01 when hot temperatures cause the iron to expand?

2:05 Speaking of metal, would you believe a notorious con man once

2:08 sold the tower to scrap metal dealers not once but twice?

2:13 And get this, the tower even has a unique

2:15 connection to France's most famous gift to the United States,

2:18 the Statue of Liberty.

2:20 The tower's namesake designer, Gustave Eiffel,

2:23 was also the brains behind Liberty's intricate iron framework.

2:27 I fell out of my chair when I learned that.

2:30 From lighting up the skyline when it first

2:32 opened to going dark for a global cause,

2:35 the Eiffel Tower is once again taking center stage

2:37 this time by switching off its lights for Earth Hour.

2:41 In Paris, the landmark dimmed its iconic lights joining cities

2:44 around the world in a symbolic move to spotlight environmental challenges.

2:49 Earth Hour began in Sydney back in 2007 organized by the World Wildlife Fund.

2:55 What started as a local initiative has grown

2:57 into a global campaign encouraging millions of people,

3:00 businesses, and landmarks to turn off non-essential lights for 1 hour each year.

3:05 This year, the movement stretched across continents

3:08 including Greece's iconic Parthenon and the Acropolis,

3:12 the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona,

3:14 and in Hong Kong nearly 4,000 buildings including

3:18 skyscrapers along Victoria Harbor switched off for an hour.

3:23 10-second trivia.

3:24 What is the name of the process that heats

3:26 an aerated cocoa and sugar to make chocolate?

3:30 Fermentation, conching, tempering, or refining?

3:37 If you said conching, you're so smooth.

3:40 It was accidentally invented in 1879

3:43 by Rodolphe Lindt who discovered that mixing chocolate for a long time created

3:48 the melt-in-your-mouth texture we expect today.

3:51 Did you hear about the 12 tons of Kit Kat chocolate bars that were stolen?

3:56 Give me a break.

3:57 Swiss food giant Nestle says that they were stolen

3:59 from a truck leaving its production site in Italy.

4:02 We're talking more than 400,000 candy bars.

4:05 The company reported the heist happened earlier this week.

4:08 The vehicle and chocolate still nowhere to be found.

4:12 But listen to this.

4:13 Nestle said all of its products can be traced

4:16 using a unique batch code assigned to individual bars.

4:19 So officials say the thieves could get caught if they try to resell the product.

4:23 A company spokesperson said, quote,

4:25 "Whilst we appreciate the criminals exceptional taste,

4:28 the fact remains that cargo theft is

4:31 an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes." Unquote.

4:34 The good news, the brand says there are no

4:36 concerns for consumer safety and supply is not affected.

4:40 Well, now it is time for an encouraging update

4:42 about the stranded humpback we told you about last week.

4:45 Rescuers have been helping to free a stranded whale

4:48 off the coast of Germany for 11 days now.

4:50 And as of this taping, they're more hopeful he will swim free.

4:54 According to one aquatic wildlife expert,

4:56 the whale now nicknamed Timmy has been pushed

4:59 to deeper waters where it can hopefully swim to safety.

5:04 He is not stranded on the sandbank.

5:06 He is in water deep enough for him to swim away from.

5:09 And so the animal is being left in peace for now.

5:11 And we naturally hope that he is simply gathering his strength

5:13 there and will be able to swim away on his own.

5:16 And then hopefully eventually find his way out of the Baltic Sea.

5:19 Humpback whales are not native to the Baltic Sea.

5:22 And conservationists say the human influence often plays

5:25 a role in whale strandings around the world.

5:28 Plastic pollution keeps piling up every day.

5:31 About 2,000 garbage trucks worth of plastic ends up in oceans,

5:34 rivers, and lakes around the world according to the UN Environment Program.

5:39 Now one company in Wales is looking to turn

5:41 the tide with seaweed-based packaging to replace single-use plastic,

5:46 showing how something from the ocean itself could help protect it.

5:49 CNN's Leroy Aben has the story.

5:52 How do you take this seaweed and turn it into this biodegradable

5:56 packaging and tackle the scourge of plastics in our oceans?

6:02 I was born in Fiji in the middle of the South

6:04 Pacific where plastics in the ocean are a huge issue.

6:08 And I've always asked myself, surely there must be an alternative to this.

6:12 And while researching that question,

6:14 I came across this company called PlantSea in Wales.

6:17 So, I've decided to go check them out.

6:22 My journey begins here on the rugged coastline of Wales.

6:28 This is where PlantSea is using seaweed

6:30 to create truly biodegradable alternatives to single-use plastics.

6:35 And it starts at seaweed farms like Carreg Emlyn.

6:39 We'll go out to the farm and harvest the seaweed

6:42 and then bring it straight back here and it gets

6:45 spun around and the solid seaweed gets separated

6:49 from the from the liquid and the liquid is our seaweed biostimulant,

6:55 which is being used in agriculture, on farms.

6:58 Like fertilizer?

6:59 Yeah, like fertilizer.

7:01 And then the solid bit that's left over, so our byproduct,

7:04 is what PlantSea will use to make their plastic products.

7:10 Ah, smells quite tasty.

7:11 It's lovely.

7:12 You can eat this.

7:14 PlantSea then brings the seaweed to this innovation center for processing.

7:18 This is where it all starts.

7:20 So, the seaweed that you've just seen at the farm,

7:22 this kind of gets dried and chopped up and flaked

7:25 and and this is where it starts in our process.

7:34 So, today we've processed around 20 kilos of of seaweed, but this should yield,

7:39 in terms of the wet product we get,

7:41 about 40 to 50 kilos of a dry polymer powder.

7:45 They'll turn this into film.

7:48 We should have enough film to do 120,000 of these solid capsules.

7:53 For Plant Sea, seaweed is a natural fit.

7:57 So, the seaweed actually lends itself very well to material innovation.

8:02 It has very a very rich like chemical structure.

8:06 It has um it's full of sugars and polysaccharides,

8:09 so it lends itself itself very well to biomaterials.

8:12 Most people don't realize that these are made from a synthetic polymer,

8:17 which is uh petroleum-based.

8:19 Now, while they do dissolve, they don't ever really truly disappear.

8:23 They create liquid microplastics.

8:26 Our film and our polymer is a natural polymer,

8:29 and it doesn't leave behind any microplastics.

8:34 Plant Sea is already working with major brands, proving this can work at scale.

8:40 So, seaweed is kind of like a wonder material.

8:42 You can eat it, you can use it as fertilizer,

8:45 and now it appears you can use it as an alternative to plastic.

8:49 The question is, why aren't we using it more?

8:59 Today's story getting a 10 out of 10 is stirring something special.

9:03 In the middle of South London, between train tracks and city streets,

9:06 a riding school is giving kids a chance to connect with horses,

9:09 many of them for the first time.

9:11 At the Ebony Horse Club in a neighborhood in Brixton,

9:14 each week about 160 kids are the main event,

9:18 learning to ride, groom, and care for horses free of charge.

9:21 Hey, it's all part of a program focused on supporting local youth.

9:25 Teachers say it behooves the kids

9:27 to participate because riding helps build their confidence,

9:30 and they learn to stay present in the moment.

9:33 So, when I tried it, it was actually great, and I had fun.

9:36 It's a different kind classroom where these young riders are

9:39 learning more than just how to stay in the saddle.

9:41 All right, superstars, couple of shout-outs today.

9:43 This first one goes to Miss Stewart and Miss Sanchez,

9:47 aka Stanchez, at Fifth Street Elementary in Decatur, Georgia.

9:51 They sent us these DIY stickers and I have to tell you,

9:56 I've been putting them on people's backs all around

9:58 the office and I don't think they've noticed yet.

10:00 It's a good thing.

10:00 Thank you for helping us spread the love.

10:03 And a very special shout-out goes to Mr.

10:06 Powers at Manistique Middle and High School in Manistique, Michigan.

10:10 Retiring after 45 years as an educator,

10:13 your students want you to know how much you mean to them.

10:16 Think of how many former students can say the same.

10:18 Salute to you, sir.

10:19 Tomorrow is your Word Wednesday,

10:21 so submit your unique vocabulary word and definition in the comments

10:25 section of our latest post on Instagram at CNN10,

10:29 at CoyWire, and we will choose a winner to work into tomorrow's show.

10:32 Make it a remarkable, marvelous, magnificent day.

10:35 I'm CoyWire and we are CNN10.