美国国家公共电台 NPR Beyond Plastic Bans: Creating Products To Replace It

Beyond Plastic Bans: Creating Products To Replace It

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Plastic pollution is a big problem. And there are a growing number of campaigns to ban plastic waste. That's putting pressure on companies not just over straws but all kinds of plastic that's used in packaging. So there's now a budding market for alternatives. Cassandra Profita of Oregon Public Broadcasting and NPR's energy and environment team takes us to a lab that's creating some of them.

CASSANDRA PROFITA, BYLINE¹: Packaging designer Ryan Gaither believes in the power of cardboard. He's laid down a massive sheet of it - as big as a king-size bed - at the Swedish-owned BillerudKorsnas design lab in Portland. He flips² the switch on a machine that zips around the cardboard like a robotic X-Acto knife.

(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINE RUNNING)

RYAN GAITHER: Basically, anything that we create - any design that we're looking to test out or validate³ we cut out with this machine.

PROFITA: When it's done, he folds the resulting cut-out into a three-dimensional shape. It's a replacement⁴ for the plastic foam⁵ end caps companies used to ship laptop computers. Gaither says inventions like this are helping⁶ the company build a growing customer list.

GAITHER: I think now people are more concerned about the impact that plastic's having on the environment. Paper packaging is a much more renewable resource. It biodegrades.

PROFITA: Their customers are now using cardboard in place of clear plastic packaging for camping gear. They're using paper bags instead of plastic ones for food like pasta. The company is even developing a paper soda⁷ bottle.

TOR LUNDQVIST: The paper bottle initiative, that's very interesting. It's the fly to the moon kind of thing.

PROFITA: Tor Lundqvist is the head of the Americas division of BillerudKorsnas, which is primarily a paper company that prides itself on sustainably managed forests. It also has a secret process for making super strong paper.

LUNDQVIST: So we can use these products in solutions where they can actually push out plastic for plastic bags, for instance, or plastic trays.

PROFITA: And Lundqvist says any time you replace plastic with paper, it does more than reduce plastic pollution. It also helps climate change because plastic is made from fossil fuels.

CONRAD MACKERRON: I think, you know, the devil's in the details.

PROFITA: Conrad MacKerron works for As You Sow, a nonprofit that's teaming up with investors⁸ to push big manufacturers to change their plastic packaging. He's heard about the BillerudKorsnas paper bottle project. And he says he doubts a leakproof bottle can be made purely⁹ out of paper. A lot of paper products aren't as sustainable as they look.

MACKERRON: Paper cups, in general, we think of them as recyclable. But because of the thin, plastic lining¹⁰, a lot of paper mills cannot process them. So they reject the cups, and they go to landfills.

PROFITA: But MacKerron says a lot of big companies are finally taking this problem seriously. Scientists say the world is dumping eight million tons of plastic into the oceans every year. And it never goes away. It's choking fish and filling the bellies¹¹ of seabirds and turtles. It's even showing up in our drinking water.

MACKERRON: And I think the sense that it's become pervasive¹² is what can change the tide and come up with, perhaps, radical¹³ new solutions that were not thinkable three, four, five years ago.

PROFITA: Meanwhile, Swedish paper company BillerudKorsnas is seeing 25 percent revenue growth year after year. Back at the company's lab in Portland, designers slide the laptop with the paper end caps into a box and test it to see if the paper can match the protective power of plastic. A mechanical arm drops it three feet.

(SOUNDBITE OF THUD)

PROFITA: Another machine shakes it around to mimic¹⁴ the bumps on a delivery truck.

(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINE RATTLING)

PROFITA: No dents¹⁵ and nothing broken - that could mean more customers will one day ship their laptops in plastic-free packaging. For NPR News, I'm Cassandra Profita in Portland.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

3 validate   

vt.（法律）使有效，使生效

参考例句：

• You need an official signature to validate the order.你要有正式的签字，这张汇票才能生效。
• In order to validate the agreement,both parties sign it.为使协议有效，双方在上面签了字。

4 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

5 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

8 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

9 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

10 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

11 bellies   

n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童

12 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

13 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

14 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

15 dents   

n.花边边饰；凹痕( dent的名词复数 )；凹部；减少；削弱v.使产生凹痕( dent的第三人称单数 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• He hammered out the dents in the metal sheet. 他把金属板上的一些凹痕敲掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Tin dents more easily than steel. 锡比钢容易变瘪。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》