中国禁止外国废品——但全世界的废品再利用会出现怎样的局面？ [英国媒体]

China bans foreign waste – but what will happen to the world’s recycling?

中国禁止外国废品——但全世界的废品再利用会出现怎样的局面？

The move by the world's largest recyclable materials importer will leave other nations searching for alternative waste-management solutions

全世界最大的循环物质进口商的这一行动将迫使其他国家寻找替代的废品处理方案



The dominant position that China holds in global manufacturing means that for many years China has also been the largest global importer of many types of recyclable materials. Last year, Chinese manufacturers imported 7.3 million metric tonnes of waste plastics from developed countries including the UK, the EU, the US and Japan.

中国在全球制造业的支配地位意味着中国作为全球最大的多种再循环物质的进口商已有多年。去年，中国制造商从包括英国、欧盟、美国和日本在内的发达国家进口了730万公吨的废塑料。

However, in July China announced big changes in the quality control placed on imported materials, notifying the World Trade Organisation that it will ban imports of 24 categories of recyclables and solid waste by the end of the year. This campaign against yang laji,  or “foreign garbage”, applies to plastic, textiles and mixed paper. It will result in China taking a lot less material as it replaces imported materials with recycled material collected in its own domestic market, from its growing middle-class and Western-influenced consumers.

然而，中国7月份宣布对于进口材料的质量控制进行大幅改变，并通知世界贸易组织：将在年底前禁止进口24类可循环和固体废物。这场针对洋垃圾或“外国垃圾”的运动适用于塑料、纺织品和杂废纸。将导致中国减少吸纳大量的材料，因为它将采用国内市场收集的可循环材料代替进口材料。国内的可循环材料来自增长中的中产阶级和受到西方影响的消费者。

The impact of this will be far-reaching. China is the dominant market for recycled plastic. There are concerns that much of the waste that the country currently imports, especially the lower grade materials, will have nowhere else to go.

这一行动的影响十分深远。中国在循环塑料市场占据支配地位。有人担心该国当前进口的大量废物，尤其是低级材料，将会无处可去。

This applies equally to other countries including the EU27, where 87 per cent of the recycled plastic collected was exported directly, or indirectly (via Hong Kong), to China. Japan and the US also rely on China to buy their recycled plastic. Last year, the US exported 1.42 million tons of scrap plastics, worth an estimated $495m (￡373m) to China.

该禁令适用于其他国家包括欧盟27国，他们87%的回收塑料杯直接或间接（通过香港）的出口到中国。日本和美国也依靠美国购买他们的回收塑料。去年，美国出口了142万吨价值约4.95亿美元的废塑料到中国。

Plastic problems

塑料问题

So what will happen to the plastic these countries collect through household recycling systems once the Chinese refuse to accept it? What are the alternatives?

所以一旦中国拒绝接收，那些国家通过家庭回收系统收集的塑料会怎样？替代方案是什么？

Plastics collected for recycling could go to energy recovery (incineration). They are, after all, a fossil-fuel based material and burn extremely well – so on a positive note, they could generate electricity and improve energy self-sufficiency.

用于循环利用收集的塑料能够进入能量回收部门（焚烧）。它们毕竟是一种矿物燃料基材料，极容易燃烧，所以从积极的一面来说，他们可以用于发电并提高能源自给率。

They could also go to landfill. This is not ideal – imagine the press headlines. Alternatively, materials could be stored until new markets are found. This also brings problems, however – there have been hundreds of fires at sites where recyclable materials are stored.

他们也可以进入填埋。这并不是理想方案，想象一下媒体的头条。替代方案是这些材料可以储存起来，直到发现新的市场。然而这也会带来问题，循环材料的储存地点已经出现过几百起失火。

Time to change our relationship with plastic?

是时候改变我们与塑料的关系了？

While it is a reliable material, taking many forms from cling film (surround-wrap) to flexible packaging to rigid materials used in electronic items, the problems caused by plastic, most notably litter and ocean plastics, are receiving increasing attention.

虽然塑料是一种可靠的材料，存在很多形态，从保鲜膜（缠绕包裹）到软包装到用于电子产品的刚性材料，但是塑料引起的问题，最值得注意的是散落物和海洋塑料，正在获得越来越多的关注。

One way forward might be to limit its functions. Many disposable items are made from plastic. Some of them are disposable by necessity for hygiene purposes – for instance, blood bags and other medical items – but many others are disposable for convenience.

一个方向是限制使用。很多一次性商品都是塑料制成的。其中的某些是出于卫生目的而必须用后即抛，例如血袋和其他医疗产品，但很多其他的一次性商品是为了方便。

Looking at the consumer side, there are ways of cutting back on plastic. Limiting the use of plastic bags through financial disincentives is one initiative that has shown results and brought about changes in consumer behaviour. In France, some disposable plastic items are banned and in the Britain, leading pub chain JD Wetherspoon has banned disposable, one-use plastic drinking straws.

从消费者一方来看，有很多减少塑料使用的途径。通过金融的约束来限制塑料袋的使用是一种倡议，已经出现成效，并给消费者行为带来改变。在法国，某些一次性塑料产品已被禁止。在英国，领先的酒吧连锁JD Wetherspoon已经禁止使用一次性的塑料吸管。

Deposit and return schemes for plastic bottles (and drink cans) could also incentivise behaviour. Micro-beads, widely used in cosmetics as exfoliants, are now a target as the damage they do becomes increasingly apparent and the UK Government has announced plans to ban their use in some products.

对于塑料瓶（及饮料罐）的押金和回报计划也可以激励消费者的行为。广泛应用于去角质化妆品的微珠，现在由于其危害越来越明显，也成为政策的目标，英国政府已宣布禁止使用某些产品的计划。

This follows similar actions announced by the US and Canada, with several EU nations, South Korea and New Zealand also planning to implement bans.

这紧随着美国和加拿大宣布的类似行动，以及几个欧盟国家，朝鲜和新西兰也计划实施类似的禁令。

Many local authorities collect recycling that is jumbled together. But a major side effect of this type of collection is that while it is convenient for the householder, there are high contamination levels which leads to reduced material quality. This will mean it is either sold for lower prices into a limited market, will need to be reprocessed through sorting plants, or will be incinerated or put in landfill. But changes to recycling collections and reprocessing to improve the quality of materials could be expensive.

很多地方当局收集的再循环物质被混杂在一起。但这种收集物质的主要副作用在于，虽然对于家庭很方便，但高度的污染水平导致物质质量的降低。这将意味着或者是低价的固体物进入有限的市场，需要通过分选厂进行再次处理，或者进入焚烧或填埋。但为了提高其材料质量，而改变再循环物质的收集和再处理将会很昂贵。

Alternatively, recycled plastic could be used to provide chemicals to the petrochemical sector, fuels to the transport and aviation sectors, food packaging and many other applications.

或者再生塑料能够用于为石化行业提高化学品，为运输和航空业提高燃油，以及食品包装和很多其他用途。

The problems we are now facing are caused by China’s global dominance in manufacturing and the way many countries have relied on one market to solve their waste and recycling problems. The current situation offers us an opportunity to find new solutions to our waste problem, increase the proportion of recycled plastic in our own manufactured products, improve the quality of recovered materials and to use recycled material in new ways.

我们面临的问题在于中国在全球制造业的支配地位和很多国家依赖市场处理他们的废物和再生问题。当前的情况给我们提供了一个机会，让我们为废物问题寻找新的解决方案，提高我们自己制造产品使用的再生塑料比例，提高再造材料的质量并以新的方式使用再生材料。



Fur-Q
Don't the local councils already just dump it in the sea? You would think so from all the fuss being made on Sky TV.

难道地方议会不是仅仅把废品倒进海里了事吗？Sky TV制造的大惊小怪的新闻很容易让你这么想。

maciver
We dump it in Africa of course.

我们当然会把它们倒到非洲。

Mimir
I notice that Christine Cole  already believes the UK has left the EU : "developed countries including the UK, the EU, the US and Japan" and she even finds statistics for "EU27".  A little early me think.

我注意到Christine Cole认为英国已经离开了欧盟：“发达国家包括英国、欧盟、美国和日本”，而且她甚至发现了欧盟“27”国的统计数据。我觉得为时尚早。

retarius
China bans foreign garbage? Well I guess we'll have to find some poor 3rd world nations in Africa to dump our trash in. Unexpected bonus is that this will reduce the traffic in the South China Sea by a huge amount making it unnecessary for the US to patrol there.

中国禁止了外国垃圾？好吧，我猜我们已经找到非洲某些第三世界穷国去倾倒我们的垃圾。意料之外的惊喜是这会大大减少南海的交通，让美国没必要再到那里巡逻。

?enten?a
we should reciprocate and ban Chinese waste from our markets 

我们应该报复并且禁止中国的垃圾进入我们的市场。

SteveSteve
You mean the tat they export to the UK which we all readily buy because it is so cheap?

你说的是他们出口到英国的那些因为很便宜所以我们都很乐意买的东西？

maciver
It's hard to find many things NOT made in China.

很难找到不是中国生产的东西。

?enten?a
this is good news, we can create more jobs by recycling our own waste instead  

这是个好新闻，我们能创造更多就业岗位，去回收自己的废物。

mat
Are you trump?

你是特朗普吗？

maciver
Like tubes coming out of your rear end? Does it just go back into the system untreated, or do you envision some recycling process? Would your plan involve hiring people to assist your process? 

就像撇大条那么容易吗？那些东西能不经处理就回到系统吗？还是你看到过某些回收的过程？你有计划雇佣一些人去做那些事吗？

Wonderman
We will do well to ban bottled water.  What a terrible waste as tap water in the UK is actually cleaner (thousands of times less bacterial and minerals).  Australia did it, and was very successful.  We should think the "impossible" as we simply cannot continue to throw plastic waste around for much longer.

我们为了禁止瓶装水能做的很好。英国的自来水实际上很干净，瓶装水多浪费啊！（细菌和矿物少几千倍）。澳大利亚已经这么做了，而且很成功。我们应该思考一些这个“不可能”的问题，因为我们不能再继续随意丢弃塑料服务了。

Soccerdad
We were in Hawaii a few weeks ago and the staff in the grocery stores seemed astonished at the concept of plastic bags.  In fact I recall that when I was a kid, paper bags were all that was available and they worked very well.    

我们几周前去过夏威夷，杂货店的店员似乎对塑料袋的概念很吃惊。实际上我回想起当我还是孩子的时候，纸袋到处都有，而且用起来也挺好。

Wonderman
The reason paper bags are not used is that they are more expensive, less durable and less eco friendly as it takes a lot of energy and water to pulp wood and process into paper!  Just google to see how paper is made and you will be astonished at how wasteful it is.

不再使用纸袋的原因是太贵，不经用而且环境友好度较低，因为制浆和造纸过程会消耗太多的能源和水。去谷歌一下纸是如何制造的，你就会被它的浪费所震惊。

Bar4U
We recycle paper. 
Paper / cardboard is far more eco friendly than plastic

我们能回收纸。
纸片和硬纸板比塑料环境友好的多。

TheAnalyst
Also:
Toxic 'e-waste' dumped in poor nations [particularly in Africa by the West], says United Nations.  - The Guardian 14.12.2013

同样的
联合国说：有毒的“电子废物”被倾倒到穷国（尤其是西方向非洲倾倒）——卫报

Freddy
The UK should take it. They'll be reduced to scavenging for scraps in waste after Brexit so here's a chance to get some practice in.

英国应该接收这些废物。在脱欧以后，他们会减少清除废物的开支，这就是他们进行实践的机会。