本集内容

Tackling the sea of plastic 应对海洋塑料污染

学习要点

有关“Recycling 回收”的词汇

边看边答

Can only people living in coastal communities solve the problem of plastic waste?

文字稿

Reducing the eight million tons of plastic dumped in the world’s oceans every year is now a priority around the globe and closing the loop by recycling is one answer.

These are deposit return-or-reverse vending machines. You put used plastic bottles in and they pay out. It scans the bar code on the label and offers the chance to make a donation to charity or credit in this supermarket. Collections are made across Sweden and brought here to this plant 90 minutes south of Stockholm. They handle plastic and glass bottles as well as aluminium cans. The Swedes have been using this type of system since the mid-eighties.

But the country is no stranger to the scourge of plastic pollution, especially in the sea. It’s a major problem here but one the environment minister insists is solvable.

Karolina Skog - Swedish Environment Minister

“There are many interesting new materials coming up from research and innovation and I see that once we have knowledge on really sustainable materials we can enter them into market rather quickly because there is a public demand and we have legal tools to use if needed. So yes, I am optimistic if we work together policy and industry.”

And people too. As plastics break down to micro level and enter the food chain in our oceans, it’s not just an issue for coastal communities. It’s a problem that affects all of us and can only be solved by all of us.

减少目前每年倒入海洋中的八百万吨塑料废弃物是世界各国的当务之急。回收利用塑料制品是终止污染恶性循环的一个良策。

这些是回收塑料瓶的机器。把用过的塑料瓶放进去后，它就会吐出相当于现金的票券。同时它也能扫描票券上的条形码，并提供将这笔收入捐赠给慈善机构的服务，或将票券抵兑机器所在的这间超市的消费券。从瑞典全国上下收集的废品会被带到这个位于斯德哥尔摩以南90分钟的工厂里。这里可以处理塑料瓶、玻璃瓶以及铝罐的回收。自八十年代中期以来，瑞典人一直在使用这个回收系统。

瑞典这个国家对白色污染之苦并不陌生，特别是海洋里的塑料。这是该国面临的一个严重问题，不过瑞典的环境部长坚持认为这个问题是可以解决的。

卡罗利娜 · 斯科格 - 瑞典环境部长

“研究和创新成果为我们提供了很多有趣的新材料，我认为一旦我们研制出真正的可持续材料，就可以快速地将其投入市场，因为公众对此有需求，而且必要的话，我们可以使用法律程序以确保将其尽快投入使用。所以，是的，只要政策制定者和行业共同联手，问题一定能解决。”

人们也是一样。随着塑料分解为微小的物质，进入海洋的食物链，这不仅是一个沿海居民要面对的问题。这是一个影响我们所有人的问题，也只能由我们一起才能解决。

词汇

dumped
倾倒

collections
收（垃圾）

sustainable materials
可持续材料（环保材料）

break down
分解

micro level
（物质）微小的单位

你知道吗？

US scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made and put the number at 8.3 billion tonnes. That is as heavy as a billion elephants.

美国科学家算出，迄今为止生产出的塑料总重量已达83亿吨，相当于十亿只大象那么重。