EMBARK
GENIUS
LILLYGOL SEDAGHATShe puts a new spin
on ‘waste not, want
not’ by treating trash
as a valuable resource.Banana peels and plastic straws are
little more than garbage in most of
the world. To environmental educa-
tor Lillygol Sedaghat, they’re precious
commodities. For the past two years,
the 27-year-old National Geographic
explorer has traveled the globe to advo-
cate for the untapped potential of trash.
The linear economy, where resources
are turned into disposable products,
“is no longer sustainable,” Sedaghat
says. She aims to promote a circular
economy, in which “you maximize your
resources and minimize your waste.”
Since 2017 Sedaghat has researched
one of the world’s most efficient waste
management systems: Taiwan recycles
nearly half its municipal waste and has
reduced the amount sent to landfills to
less than one percent—turning plastic
waste into cell phone cases and food
scraps into fertilizer. To Sedaghat, it’s
a prime example of how a zero-waste
economy can work. Her goal? For
people “to realize a) they are a part of
a waste system, b) they could make
a difference and live a more sustain-
able lifestyle, [and] c) that our trash
doesn’t disappear, it goes somewhere
and affects someone.” jBY ANNIE ROTH PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALELearn more about plastic waste and take the
pledge to reduce it at natgeo.com/plasticpledge.