06/06 TOP NEWS | 拒绝塑料污染，我们都是行动者

魔都英语新闻丨ShanghaiLive

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