2018年CRI 尼日利亚在中国洋垃圾禁令中发现商机

Countries like Nigeria used to export thousands of tons of recycled plastic waste to China every year.

The wastes would be processed and used in making pipes, carpets and other products.

But the business has had to come to an end.

Days ago, China enacted¹ a ban amid its latest environmental protection efforts.

It prohibits imports of recyclable waste including mixed paper, plastic bottles and 24 types of solid waste.

Nigerian recycling experts like Bilkis Abiola said that this presents a chance to help develop their country's recycling industry.

"I think in the medium to the longer term, people see this as an opportunity and they will position themselves and they will start adding value here in Lagos. Instead of me exporting my waste flakes², for instance, my waste plastics to China, I can turn around and create a bottle-to-bottle recycling plant or a plastic recycling plant here in Nigeria. Because what we do is we take the waste, we ship it to China and we just buy the end product."

Meanwhile, another expert Ola Oresanya believes their country has been capable of handling the problem.

"The technology to process plastic in Africa should be here. We don't really have to export. We don't. All the recyclables that we can gather, we should process them right here in Africa. We were exporting this. We were scavenging, scooping³, packaging and exporting for production in China. Why can't we process here?"

Nigeria generates an estimated 30 million metric tons of waste annually⁴.

Of this figure, 2.5 million metric tons are plastic waste.

The capital city Lagos on its own accounts for about 300,000 of the total.

So far, some recycling incentives⁵ have been put into effect in Lagos, but Oresanya suggests the industry is still at its infancy⁶ and has lots of room for expansion.

"What I think China can do to help Africa grow, and I think what African cities can do is that all the technology that you cannot use in China, bring them here. Let us all start to be recyclers. Let us now use those scraps⁷. Bring your scraps to Africa, let us process them."

Abiola is also upbeat about the future of the domestic industry.

"Imagine Lagos growing and having more of that, having more industries that turn waste into products and Lagos now can even supply neighboring cities, neighboring countries with the end products. So I think Lagos is a port city, so it is a strategic thing that I think we need to really grab."

The experts are also suggesting that Africa could become a major recycling basin for the rest of the world, so that more jobs can be created, and more new materials can be made.

1 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

2 flakes   

小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人

参考例句：

• It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
• It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。

3 scooping   

n.捞球v.抢先报道( scoop的现在分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• Heated ice cream scoop is used for scooping really cold ice cream. 加热的冰淇淋勺是用来舀非常凉的冰淇淋的。 来自互联网
• The scoop-up was the key phase during a scooping cycle. 3个区间中，铲取区间是整个作业循环的关键。 来自互联网

4 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

5 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

7 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。