回收系统出问题了吗？

这是来自BBC英语教学的下载内容。

This is a download from BBC Learning English.

想了解更多，请访问我们的网站。

To find out more, visit our website.

六分钟英语。

Six Minute English.

来自bbclearningenglish.com。

From bbclearningenglish.com.

你好。

Hello.

欢迎收听BBC英语教学的六分钟英语。

This is six Minute English from BBC Learning English.

我是尼尔。

I'm Neil.

我是乔治娜。

And I'm Georgina.

不好意思，我今天迟到了，Georgina。

Sorry I was late today Georgina.

今天早上我忘了在垃圾车来之前把回收箱拿出去。

I'd forgotten to take the recycling bins out before the rubbish collection this morning.

每周我手里的塑料包装似乎越来越多。

I seem to have more and more plastic packaging each week.

其实，这正是我们今天节目的主题。

Actually, that's the topic of our programme.

随着越来越多的家庭垃圾被焚烧或者填埋，我们会探讨：回收系统是不是已经失效了？

With more and more household wastes being either incinerated that's burned or being buried underground, we'll be asking is the recycling system broken?

中国过去曾接收全球55%的塑料和纸张废料，也就是人们常说的不需要的垃圾。

China used to accept 55% of the world's plastic and paper scrap, another word for unwanted waste, or in other words, rubbish.

这其中也包括英国运过去的废弃物。

That included waste sent over from Britain.

但到了2018年，它就完全不再接收了。

But in 2018, it stopped taking any more.

其他国家比如印度尼西亚和越南接过了中国处理废弃物的角色，但现在它们也把大部分废料退了回来，说这些垃圾被污染了，正在损害它们自己的环境。

Other countries like Indonesia and Vietnam took over China's waste processing role, but they too are now sending much of the scrap back arguing it is contaminated and is harming their own environments.

这给那些传统上依赖别国处理回收垃圾的西方国家造成了严重问题。

This has created major problems for countries in the West who traditionally relied on others to process their recycling waste.

而且这个问题不会自行消失，事实上，我们产生的家庭垃圾比以往任何时候都多。

And the problem isn't going away In fact we are creating more household waste than ever.

所以，我来提个问题。

So here's my quiz question.

去年，英国平均每人产生了多少公斤的家庭垃圾？

On average how many kilograms of household waste were generated per person in The UK last year?

是 a) 280 公斤，b) 480 公斤，还是 c) 680 公斤？

Was it a) two eighty kilograms b) four eighty kilograms or c) six eighty kilograms

听起来垃圾量真不小。

That sounds like a lot of waste.

我觉得是 a) 280 公斤。

I'll say a) two eighty kilograms.

好吧。

Okay.

我们稍后再看你说得对不对。

We'll find out later if you were right.

虽然现在人们回收得更多了，但塑料的使用量并没有同步减少。

Although nowadays people are recycling more, the use of plastic isn't decreasing at the same rate.

BBC世界服务节目《探究》采访了加州大学的罗兰·盖尔教授，了解当前的情况：

The BBC World Services programme The Inquiry spoke to Roland Geyer, a professor at the University of California, about the current situation:

公众的环保意识确实提高了，这很棒，我很高兴看到大众现在对这个问题非常关注，感到震惊，并且真的想采取行动、做出改变。

There's been a real rise in consciousness which is fantastic and I'm really glad that now it seems the public at large is really interested in this issue and appalled and wants to do something about it, wants to change it.

但与此同时，我还没看到任何实质性的行动能真正改善现状，因为就在这一切发生的同时，原生塑料产业反而在扩大产能。

But at the same time, I don't see yet any real action that would make things better because while all of this is happening, the virgin plastic industry is actually increasing its production capacity

从事回收处理的工人常常接触危险的废弃物，这对他们的健康构成威胁。

Workers who process recycling are often exposed to dangerous waste materials which can harm them.

盖尔教授说，现在人们对这个问题的意识提高了，意思是人们被告知了这种不公平的状况，目的是希望他们能参与改变。

Professor Geyer says there's been a raise in consciousness about this problem meaning that people are being told about an unfair situation with the aim of asking them to help change it.

现在，盖耶教授是美国人，他用‘raise’这个词作名词。

Now Professor Geyer is an American and he uses raise as a noun.

主要问题出在原生塑料上，也就是全新未使用过的塑料容器。

The main problem comes from virgin plastic, original unused plastic containers.

这些塑料直接来自化石燃料，比如原油或天然气，而它们正是二氧化碳和气候变化的主要来源。

These are made directly from fossil fuels like crude oil or natural gas, major sources of carbon dioxide and climate change.

但提高人们对这一问题的意识确实产生了影响。

But consciousness raising of this issue is having an impact.

广大公众——也就是世界上大多数人，而不仅仅是少数人——对塑料垃圾的增加感到担忧，并希望采取行动帮忙。

The public at large, meaning most people in the world rather than just some of them, are concerned about the increase in plastic waste and want to do something to help.

然而，要弄清楚最好的帮助方式并不总是那么容易。

However, it's not always easy to know what the best way to help is.

另一位专家，蒙纳克·孙教授认为，只关注回收可能并不是最好的做法。

Another expert, Professor Monarch Sun, believes that focusing only on recycling may not be the best idea.

她进行了心理学实验，以更深入地了解人们对回收的态度。

She conducted psychological experiments to find out more about people's attitudes to recycling.

但出人意料的是，人们一旦知道可以回收，反而更倾向于多用资源。

And surprisingly found that if people know recycling is an option they tend to use more resources.

他们通过告诉自己这些材料最终会被回收，来减轻内心的负罪感。

They reduce any guilty feelings by telling themselves that the material will be recycled anyway.

我们常听到‘减量、重复使用、回收’这个口号，但顺序就该是这样：减量和重复使用优先。

We have this slogan of reduce, reuse and recycle, and the priority should be exactly that.

减量和重复使用比回收更有效，而回收的成本往往被严重低估了。

Reduce and reuse is better than recycling, and the cost of recycling is often not emphasized enough.

人们觉得回收特别好，但实际上它需要耗费大量人力和材料成本。

People perceive recycling to be great but there is actually significant labor and material cost associated with recycling.

孙教授提到‘减量、重复使用、回收’这个说法很有用，是个简短好记的口号，常用来推广环保理念。

Professor Sun mentions reduce, reuse and recycle as a useful slogan, a short easily remembered phrase often used to promote an idea in this case that we should all do what we can to protect the environment.

虽然保护地球是大家的共同目标，但单靠回收本身可能没那么关键。

But while protecting the planet is a common goal recycling in itself may not be so important.

比起回收，减量和重复使用才是更好的选择。

It's better to reduce and reuse than recycle.

所以这两个目标应该被特别强调出来，引起重视。

So these two objectives should be emphasised, highlighted as being especially important.

你还记得我之前出的那道题吗？

Do you remember my quiz question?

我问过你们，英国人平均每人去年产生了多少公斤垃圾？

I asked you how many kilograms of waste the average British person generated last year?

我觉得是a选项，280公斤。

I reckon it was a) two eighty kilograms.

这还不算糟，真正的答案是b选项，480公斤。

That wouldn't be bad enough but the real answer is b) four eighty kilograms.

再把这个数字乘以英国6600万的人口，你就能看出问题有多严重了。

Multiply that by The UK population of 66,000,000 and you start to see the size of the problem.

今天我们聊了关于回收废料——也就是垃圾——所带来的一系列问题。

Today we've been talking about the problems associated with recycling scrap another word for rubbish.

以前西方国家都把垃圾运到中国去回收，但这给当地的环境造成了不少问题。

Western countries used to send their rubbish to China for recycling but this caused issues for the local environment.

一些组织提高了公众对这个问题的认识，让大家了解情况，从而推动人们参与改变。

Some groups raised consciousness about the problem made people aware of the situation to encourage them to help change it.

现在大多数人已经意识到减少使用、重复利用和回收的重要性——这是环保人士用来传播理念的口号。

The public at large most people in the world are now aware of the need to reduce, reuse and recycle the slogan or short memorable phrase used by environmentalists to spread their message.

另一个相关的问题是原生塑料——也就是用化石燃料制成的全新塑料——产量在不断增加。

A related problem is the increase of virgin plastic original unused plastic made from fossil fuels.

回收的速度赶不上原生塑料的生产，因此更应该强调减少使用和重复利用塑料。

Recycling is unable to keep pace with virgin plastic production so instead reducing and reusing plastic should be emphasised highlighted as being especially important.

今天我们就聊到这里。

And that's all from us.

暂时再见。

Bye for now.

再见。

Bye.