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U.S. State of the Union Address Postponed; China Prepares for its Lunar New Year; Loop Starts Environmentally Friendly Delivery Service Reviving Milkman Delivery Service

Aired January 25, 2019 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: I think, therefore Fridays are awesome. Who would disagree with that philosophy? I`m Carl Azuz. This is CNN 10. The

U.S. presidents annual State of the Union speech has been called off for now and the reason concerns the political fight taking place over the

government`s partial shutdown. Here`s what happened. On January 3rd, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited President Donald Trump to give his

annual address in the U.S. House of Representatives in late January.

But on January 16th, the speaker recommended that the president postpone the speech or send it in a letter until the partial government shutdown was

over. On Wednesday, President Trump said he was moving ahead with plans to give the speech in the House. Speaker Pelosi responded that the House

would not authorize it to take place until the government had completely reopened. And though the president initially suggested that his

Administration would find another place for the speech, he said Wednesday night that it would be postponed because no venue can compete with the

importance of the House chamber.

Democrats and Republicans continue to blame each other for the shutdown and the postponement of the speech but one thing that`s interesting is what the

Constitution says about the address. The president shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union. It doesn`t say

it has to be every year. It doesn`t say it has to be in a joint session of Congress in the House. So what the two sides are arguing about is the

tradition that Democratic and Republican presidents have observed throughout the years but not a Constitutional obligation.

10 Second Trivia. Which of these animals is not featured on the Chinese Zodiac, an astrological calendar cycle? Ox, Bear, Pig or Rooster. The

animals that repeat every 12 years in the Chinese zodiac do not include a bear.

But they do include the pig and February 5th is when the year of the pig begins, it`s also year 4717 on the Chinese calendar. The Lunar New Year is

a massive celebration for China. People travel hundreds of thousands of miles to be with their families and because the country`s population is

nearly 1 billion 400 thousand the holiday triggers what`s known as the largest annual human migration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 2019 may be the year of the pig but like every Lunar New Year, it`s also the year of the crush during a 40 day period leading up

to and after the Lunar holiday, and the rush is already underway. More than 400 million Chinese holiday travelers will take the train. Over the

15 days of the festival itself, from February 5th to February 19th rail authorities are bracing for a near 9 percent increase on last years

numbers. That works out at more than 9.5 million in passengers a day.

Some 73 million people are expected to choose air travel. That means there will be about 15,600 planes in the sky everyday of the holiday. But the

road remains the most popular way of traveling mostly by bus during the Lunar New Year period. A more enjoyable holiday tradition is the Jai Hong

Lantern Festival which runs until March 1st. Some of the lanterns are up to 22 meters tall. It`s blaze of color and imagination with birds, fish

and of course pigs lighting up the dark winter nights. The festival dates from the Tang Dynasty around 618 A.D.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ: Back in the day and by that we mean the 1950`s, many people used to have milk delivered to their homes. It`d arrive in glass bottles

that they`d return to the milkmen and the reason that went away is because new production methods extended milk`s shelf life and it became less

expensive and more convenient to just pick it up at the store. But the delivery model may be making a comeback helped by a company that aims to be

more environmentally friendly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once you`ve finished drinking your coffee from your disposable coffee cup do you cherish that coffee cup for many years to

come? Absolutely not. Recycling is dealing with the symptom of waste but not the root cause of waste. We have to turn off the tap.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t create the waste in the first place. That`s the idea behind a new project from some of the world`s biggest brands.

It`s called Loop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Loop is effectively a reboot of the milkman but in a very, very modern way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With Loop, when you shop online for Haagen Dazs Ice Cream, Dove deodorant or one of the other 300 or so available products,

they`ll be delivered to your door in a new, durable packaging inside a reusable shipping tote. They`ll cost about the same as the ones you buy in

the store but you`ll pay a refundable deposit for the container.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then when you`re empty without any cleaning, just like a disposable experience you`d throw back into your Loop bin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And instead of going to the landfill or recycling plant, Loop products will be picked up, cleaned, refilled and ultimately

reused by another customer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It moves from being disposable to reusable which is a huge upgrade for the environment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of the 34.5 million tons of plastic waste created in the U.S. in 2015, less than 10 percent was recycled. So Szaky sought out

some of the biggest purveyors of plastic packaging. His pitch, the plastic problem is serious and your contributing to it but here`s a way to help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As we look forward to the future, we know consumers will demand more recyclable products or reusable products.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nestle decided to launch on Loop with five flavors of its Haagen Dazs Ice Cream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Project Loop is a way for us to tip our toe into this territory and really learn a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To do that, teams had to completely reimagine the traditional pint made of coated paper.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have designed the package itself with stainless steel which allows it to keep the product cold much longer than a regular

ice cream package would.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In London, Unilevers (ph) design team was working on their own redesign to bring Axe, Degree and Dove deodorants to Loop they

created a sleek stainless steel capsule.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn`t compromise on beauty and experience but we wanted to make sure that we`re doing a fantastic action to the planet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In May 2019, Loop will launch in just New York and Paris with only several thousand customers in each city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2019, Loop does not make a business sense for the partners because it`s at low scale. And they will likely loose money on

every transaction in that year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an investment for us. We`re not that far but we`re going to learn a lot from the test.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An even bigger problem with starting small, Loop requires a ton of shipping. Haagen Dazs Ice Cream ordered by a New Yorker

will start in Bakersfield, California then be trucked across the country, stored in Maryland, packed in New Jersey all before ultimately being

delivered by UPS. Once the customer`s done, that container travels back the way it came. All that transportation adds up to a big environmental

cost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s absolutely an impact of reuse which is shipping the empties and cleaning them. But if you compare that to the impact of

making new packaging, reuse becomes somewhere between 50 and 75 percent better for the environment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the most important question remains, will consumers be willing to give up the plastic lifestyle to get on board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ: A man in Iowa recently won the lottery. Well not the jackpot. He won $1 on a scratch off ticket but he went to the state lottery

headquarters and asked for the big prize treatment. And after a laugh, they gave it to him. Printing up a big old check with the prize listed and

making him feel like a million bucks if not the winner of it.

He then went and blew it all in one place. He bought a half gallon of gasoline. Well many lottery winners move. He was able to move about 10 to

15 miles depending on his car. It might not be a "jackpot of gold" but it was probably worth the "grand prize of admission". And you`ve got to

credit him with keeping it "lottereal". If we had a dollar for every time we covered a story like that, it might be a lottery but it`d be the same as

that lottery winner. I`m Carl Azuz. CNN 10 hopes you have a great weekend.

END