1950年以来，人类生产了91亿吨塑料，回收利用的比例还不到10% [英国媒体]

-------------译者：五味子.-审核者：老猫喝酒------------



The scale of the plastic humans have created and mostly dumped in the environment has been revealed for the first time.

一份研究首次纰漏了 人类大规模制造出的塑料中 大部分都被直接丢弃在自然环境里. 

Since 1950 when plastic was first mass produced humans have produced 9.1billion tons.

自从1950年人类开始大规模制造塑料以来 已经成产了91亿吨塑料.

The amount is comparable to the weight of some 90000 Eiffel Towers or 1.2billion African elephants.

这个量相当于9万座埃菲尔铁塔或者12亿只非洲象的重量.

The authors calculated how much plastic was made by combining data on production use and disposal statistics worldwide.

研究者基于对生产使用过的塑料和被丢弃的塑料的统计 计算出了我们制造出塑料的总量.

The main plastics produced are high density polyethylene ? used for plastic bottles. 

我们生产出的塑料大部分是高密度聚乙烯 用来生产塑料瓶.

 -------------译者：五味子.-审核者：东乌先生------------



Worldwide European countries recycle most ? at 30 per cent ? followed by China at 25 per cent.

世界范围内 欧洲国家对塑料的回收利用率最高 大约有30% 中国次之 有25%.

The United States recycles just 9 per cent of its plastic a figure that has not gone up since 2012.

美国对塑料的回收利用率则只有9%  这一数据自2012年以后就没有再提升过.

The report said that most plastics in the form of fibre ? such as synthetic fabrics ? are not recycled at all and are either burnt or sent to landfill.

报告提到 大部分塑料纤维 比如合成纤维织物 一点都没有被回收 而是被焚烧或者被填埋进土地里.

The researchers calculate that at current rates by 2050 just 6 per cent of plastic will be thrown away with the global recycling rate hitting 44 per cent by then.

研究人员通过计算表示  以现在的比例 到2050年时 全球只有6%的碎料会被丢弃塑料回收率会达到44%.

A further 50 per cent of plastic will be incinerated on current trends.

按现在的趋势来看，剩余50%的塑料会被焚毁

-------------译者：五味子.-审核者：东乌先生------------



Around 9 per cent has been recycled and 12 per cent has been incinerated the report said meaning 5.6billion tons is polluting the planet - either dumped in landfill in the sea or countryside.

报告提到 有大约9%的塑料被回收 12%被焚烧. 这意味着有56亿吨塑料正在污染这颗星球 他们要么被填埋进地里  要么直接被扔进海洋或者乡村.

The plastic will hang around for hundreds if not thousands of years with potentially harmful consequences for the environment the researchers warn.

研究者警告我们 塑料会环绕在我们周围几百年甚至一千年. 并对环境存在潜在的威胁.

And by 2050 on current measures we will have tossed away around 12billion tons of plastic waste in landfill sites or the environment.

而且以现在速度 到了2050年  我们总共会有120亿吨废塑料被送入填埋场 或者丢弃在自然环境中.

To put this into perspective the authors say twelve billion metric tons is nearly 35000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.

换个角度来看 报告作者说120亿公吨相当于将近帝国大厦的重量的35000倍.

The figure is calculated on the basis that current increases in recycling and incineration of plastic will continue ? and we will have gone from tossing away 58 per cent of all plastic to just 6 per cent.

这个数字是基于目前塑料的回收和焚化率不断提高的背景下计算得出的. 并且塑料的废弃率会从58%降低到只有6%.

-------------译者：大开发航空-审核者：东乌先生------------

Around 4-12 million tons of plastic ends up in the sea each year.

每年大约有4-1200万吨的塑料终结在海洋中。

In a strongly worded attack on our obsession with producing plastic - and slinging it away soon after making it - the authors warn that virtually all plastic produced does not biodegrade ? although it can break down into smaller beads or ‘microplastics'.

这份措辞严厉的文章攻击我们痴迷于塑料制品，以及在制造塑料后不久就将其丢弃。作者警告说，几乎所有的塑料制品都不会被生物降解。虽然它可以分解成更小的颗粒或“微塑料”。

The researchers highlight how recycling plastic is not the solution as it ‘merely delays rather than avoids plastic disposal'.

研究人员强调，回收塑料并不是解决问题的办法，因为它“只是延迟而不是避免塑料处理”。

Furthermore mixing different types of plastic in recycling creates ‘secondary plastics' which are of limited technical or economic value.

此外，在回收过程中混合不同类型的塑料会产生“二次塑料”，其技术或经济价值有限。

The authors said plastic's toughness makes it ‘difficult or impossible for nature to assmilate' and add that the consequences of dumping so much plastic are unknown.

作者说，塑料的坚韧性使自然界很难或不可能进行吸收，并补充说，倾倒这么多塑料的后果是未知的。


​-------------译者：大开发航空-审核者：东乌先生------------

Hope
Nonsense we humans have not 'created' tons of plastic we simply use it (rightfully or wrongfully). The people who do produce it head the Petroleum Industry so perhaps the DM should direct the blame more appropriately at them and not at the consumer who have little choice these days. Most products if they are considered 'unsustainable' by the UN ruling elite are taken off the market immediately regardless of who needs them. That is unless it benefits huge monopoly corporations who produce whatever they want and pollute the environment with their highly toxic chemicals such as plastics fluoride and aluminium. Yet we the public wrongfully get blamed for it all. So please direct the blame where it belongs which is at the producers not the public. 

我们人类没有“制造”大量的塑料，我们只是简单地使用它(正当或错误的)。生产石油的人是石油工业的领导者，所以也许DM应该更恰当地把责任推到他们身上，而不是那些现在几乎没有选择的消费者身上。大多数产品如果被联合国的统治精英认为是“不可持续的”，那么无论谁需要它们，它们都将立即被赶出市场。除非它能让大型垄断企业受益，他们生产任何他们想要的产品，并且用他们的高毒性化学物质污染环境，比如氟化塑料和铝。然而，我们的公众却被错误地指责为这一切的罪魁祸首。因此，请将责任归责于它所属的地方，而非公众。

Pragmatixx
I'm still waiting for them to announce that plastic is carcinogenic... 

我仍然在等待他们宣布塑料是致癌的…

-------------译者：恭-审核者：王晟玮------------

Cheapbastard
Us humans are horrible. 

我们这些人类真是太糟糕了。

daveoconnell
Makes.no.sense - numbers are made up 

这太不靠谱了，一点儿都不明智，数字是编造的。

Tony
All the research money goes on Global Warming !

所有的研究资金都浪费在全球变暖上！

John returns
The government should grow a pair of balls and tell manufacturers that unless they switch to recyclable packaging their products will be banned from sale. Every single manufacturer will magically come up with recyclable packaging overnight.

政府应该推出相应的法令，并告诉制造商，除非他们改用可回收包装，否则他们的产品将被禁止销售。 每个制造商都会在一夜之间神奇地拿出可回收的包装。

SAMSUNG GALAXY S8 -> John returns
I think we should fire up public interest in recycling every single material by promoting a short video of what the Earth may be like if people never bother recycling. 

我想我们应该引起公众对回收每一种材料的兴趣，通过推广一个简短的视频，来向大众说明如果人们从来不进行回收，那么地球可能是什么样的。

-------------译者：恭-审核者：力口氵由------------

ThePatriot
As consumers we are all guilty. 

作为消费者，我们都是有罪的。

Here_we_go_again
...and apparently the human race has used 710 billion barrels of oil but there's still 2300 billion barrels left in terms of known and expected reserves. That will keep "certain" countries very very well-off for quite some time......

。。。很显然人类已经使用了7100亿桶石油，但是在已知和预期的储量还剩下23000亿桶。 这将使“某些”国家在很长一段时间内非常富裕。。。。。。

dgunn
If there that worried stop using it then instead of keep whining about it.

如果担心这种事，那就停止使用它，而不是继续埋怨。

SAMSUNG GALAXY S8 -> dgunn
I hope we soon find a new way to use mobile phones use computers and play videogame without having to physically touch them. If that can be achieved we won't have to worry about this killing Earth.

我希望我们很快会找到一种新的方法来使用手机、使用电脑和玩视频游戏，而不必实际接触。 如果这样可以实现，我们就不用担心这个杀死地球的事情。

-------------译者：力口氵由-审核者：力口氵由------------

Alexandra Sands
It is too late now. Every time. I go to Sainsburys for my shopping I come home with tonnes of bits of plastic with the food inside and of course the bottles of Fanta or whatever. There does not seem to be an answer for this. We have ruined our planet. 

现在为时已晚。我每次去Sainsburys购物时，带着大量装着食物的塑料袋回到家里，当然还有芬达或其他的东西。 这似乎没有答案。 我们毁了我们的星球。

wavestar
it's doesn't strike me as particularly difficult to stop this (as our appetite for plastic packaging grows). Change the law so it's incredibly inconvenient or expensive to use. Failing that biodegradable plastics are also an alternative. 

要想不用塑料那确实很难，因为我们对塑料包装的需求在不断增加。因此需要从法律着手，让使用塑料变得不方便或者昂贵。如果无法通过法律解决，那么使用可降解的塑料也是一个选择。

SAMSUNG GALAXY S8
Scientists should find a way for us to use computers virtually so that manufacturers don't have to produce any more hardware involved with using plastics.

科学家们应该为我们找到一种使用电脑的实质方式，以便制造商不必再生产任何涉及使用塑料的硬件。

-------------译者：ddr80000-审核者：东乌先生------------

A11001L
I remember reading about a couple of scientists a few years ago a man and woman who had found and even named a bacteria that could degrade plastics. Can someone tell me what has happened to their work and where are they now? Seems a bit suss to me.

我记得几年前读到过，一对科学家夫妇，一男一女(好严谨的说明-译者注)，发现甚至命名了一种能够降解塑料的细菌。 有人可以告诉我他们的工作后来怎么样了，他们现在在哪里？ 我自己想做一点小调查。

SAMSUNG GALAXY S8
We need to make sure more people recycle their unwanted gadgets so the earth remain habitable. 

我们需要确保更多的人回收他们不想要的小玩意儿，让地球保持宜居。

MrMakesSense
Plastic eventually corrodes this has been proven by a 17 year old to be scientist and thus shows that no matter what they say about its non corrosion it will eventually dissolve. There is a bug that eats plastic. Stupid articles making people that think plastic kills the world something to talk about. 

一名17岁的科学家已经证明了塑料最终会腐蚀，这表明无论他们如何说塑料不会腐蚀，它最终都会溶解。 有一种虫子会吃塑料。 愚蠢的文章让那些认为塑料杀死世界人有话可说。

wavestar -> MrMakesSense
conduct your own experiment and fill your garden with plastic let us know how long it takes before it dissolves.

你自己做个实验吧，用塑料堆满你的花园。让我们知道它溶解之前花了多长时间。

-------------译者：恭-审核者：东乌先生------------

MacBestus
Most of it ends up as part of a Kardashian/Jenner

其中大部分作为卡戴珊/詹娜的组成成分。

hello its me
It's time to ban plastic. Especially packaging.

是时候禁止塑料了， 特别是包装。

Lord Baltimore
it 10000 years long after civilization collapses there will be archeologists in the future probably no more advanced than someone from Roman Times and they will discover these landfills and they will be happy digging around in the garbage trying to research us

文明崩溃后10000年，这些未来的考古学家们可能不会比罗马时代的人先进，但他们会发现这些垃圾填埋场，并在垃圾中挖掘，试图研究我们。