06/06 TOP NEWS | 拒绝塑料污染，我们都是行动者
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CURBING PLASTIC POLLUTION IS EVERYONE'S BUSINESS 拒绝塑料污染，我们都是行动者 Despite knowing 尽管多年来 for years that we need to reduce 人们早就明白需要减少 our reliance on plastics 对塑料的依赖 they're still almost impossible to escape 但在日常生活中要摆脱它们 in everyday life 仍然比较困难 According to data provider Statista 根据Statista提供的数据 more than half a billion people across China 中国有超过5亿人 use online food delivery services 使用外卖服务 That's tens 这意味着 to hundreds of millions of packages like this one 每天有数千万到数亿份 being opened 像这样的外卖 every day 被打开 And as you can see plastic packaging is the norm 正如你所看到的 塑料包装非常普遍 Today's lunch is 今天的午餐是 Dongbei-style dumplings with a few side dishes 东北饺子和一些配菜 and you can see there's plastic all over it 很多都是塑料包装 We've got plastic packaging 我们可以看到 for the dumplings themselves 饺子的塑料包装 plastic packaging for the side dishes 配菜的塑料包装 plastic packaging as well for the dipping sources 甚至蘸酱的包装也是 Since the 50s of last century 自上世纪50年代以来 the world has 全世界已经 produced more than 8 billion tonnes of plastic 生产了超过80亿吨的塑料 60% of them ended up in the landfill 其中60%最终被填埋 or just leaking to the nature 或直接流入大自然中 And today, every single day 如今 每一天都有 30,000 tonnes of plastic leaks into the ocean 30,000吨塑料泄漏到海洋中 So this is a very huge number of 这是一个非常巨大的数字 these are very huge number 这是一个非常巨大的数字 and they signifies the problem behind that 它们标志着这背后问题的严重性 In 2021 China banned 2021年 中国发布“升级版限塑令” plastic drinking straws and single use plastic bags 禁止了塑料吸管和一次性塑料袋 And while in big cities like Shanghai 虽然在上海 the transition 这样的大城市 away from plastic and towards other materials 从塑料向纸质 like cardboard or bamboo polymer 或竹制聚合物等材料的吸管 drinking straws has been pretty quick 过渡非常迅速 single use plastic bags are still extremely common 但一次性塑料袋仍然常见 So are incentives 那么 激励措施 and pleas to be more mindful of the environment 和对环境保护的呼吁 enough to turn companies away 是否足以使企业放弃使用 from so much unnecessary plastic 如此多的不必要的塑料 Globally there are more and more international 在全球范围内 有越来越多的 sustainability standards 可持续性标准 requiring or encouraging the companies 鼓励或要求公司 to disclose or take actions to link 披露塑料相关信息或采取行动 In terms of the the plastic issue 就塑料问题而言 It's not that easy to solve 它不是那么容易解决的 As you can see 如你所见 first the companies need to conduct 首先 公司需要对 a thorough life-cycle assessment 替代解决方案进行 of the alternative solutions to see if 全面的生命周期评估 if it's actually a better alternative solution 看它在环境和社会影响方面 in terms of 是否真的是一个 the environmental impact and the social impact 更好的替代解决方案 and also 同时 the company need to conduct financial assessment to 公司还需要进行财务评估 to see if they can afford it 看自己是否能够负担得起 In 2019 the WWF 2019年 世界自然基金会 put the total societal cost of a single year's 认定全球一年生产的塑料 global plastic production 产生的社会总成本为 at 3.7 trillion US dollars 3.7万亿美元 But the financial costs of 但改用 switching to more environmentally friendly materials 更环保的材料的财务成本 are still more easily borne by larger companies 更容易被大公司接受 The WWF says more attention needs to be focussed 世界自然基金会表示 on the smaller companies 需要更多地关注 which make up the bulk of the Chinese economy 占中国经济大部分的小公司 to help them ditch plastics too 以帮助它们也放弃塑料 We know that there's economy uncertainty 我们知道经济发展存在不确定性 and it might cause difficulties for company 而改用一次性塑料的替代品 just to switch to use other 这件事本身 substitutes of single use plastics 或许就可能造成困难 But I think we can also take this as an opportunity 但我认为我们也可以抓住这个机会 to reduce the the costs and find 以降低成本 even find more business opportunities from that 甚至创造更多商机