东南亚国家:停止向我们运送大量塑料垃圾

Southeast Asia: Stop Sending Us Mountains of Plastic Waste

Wealthy countries are exporting millions of tons of plastic waste to Southeast Asia, where local recycling systems cannot process all of it.

Greenpeace and the Global Alliance¹ for Incinerator Alternatives, or GAIA, studied the issue. Their joint² investigation³ found that the exports of plastic waste are causing widespread pollution problems.

In early 2018, China banned the import of plastic waste for recycling. The ban sent the international trade in recycled materials into disorder⁴.

Greenpeace and GAIA workers gathered information from the top 21 importers and exporters of plastic waste. They looked at the recycling trade before and after the Chinese ban.

Over half of the plastic --more than 3 million tons a year -- used to go to China. It is now being sent to Southeast Asia. Huge mountains of plastic are growing in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, among other countries.

Kate Lin is a project leader at Greenpeace. She told VOA that these Southeast Asian countries do not have the ability to make all that plastic useful again.

"They do not have enough capacities for handling such a large amount of imported foreign waste, so there is some pollution to the local environment."

The Malaysian village of Jenjarom is about 50 kilometers outside Kuala Lumpur. Nearby, one finds huge piles of plastic waste on the ground in the middle of a palm oil farm. Nobody is working to reduce the size of the piles. The writing on the bottles, boxes and plastic bags shows where they came from. Much of the waste has traveled thousands of kilometers from Europe and North America.

People are suffering because of this waste, said local environmentalist Pua Lay Peng.

"They just dump the non-recyclable plastic or the rejected product, and then they burn [it] in the backyard of these factory. So, those toxic⁵ steam (fumes) actually already caused a lot of health problems to our residents."

Kate Lin said wealthy countries are simply exporting their waste problems. They do not follow up on what happens after it crosses the border.

"They have good collection facilities, but actually they are sending half of their collected waste to other countries. Before the China ban, they just sent it to China for recycling, but they do not take the further step to ensure those recyclables are properly recycled. And now after the China waste ban, they just try other new places to send their recyclables to."

Many Southeast Asian countries are beginning to restrict plastic waste imports. That forces the trash into markets with fewer controls, such as Indonesia and India.

At a United Nations conference in Geneva this week, 180 countries have been discussing a new rule that may help. The rule would force plastic waste exporters to get permission from officials of the countries before they accept the waste. The system, known as "prior informed consent," is already used for more hazardous⁷ waste.

For those dealing⁸ with the effects of the waste, the changes can't come soon enough, said Pua.

"We are killing⁹ ourselves by using too many plastic(s). We [are] too dependent on plastic. Please manage and handle your own trash. Don't dump to our country."

Greenpeace said improving recycling is not the final solution. Instead, the world must severely¹⁰ reduce plastic production and consumption¹¹ worldwide.

I’m Jill Robbins.

Words in This Story

recycle - v. to send (used newspapers, bottles, or cans) to a place where they are made into something new

capacity– n. the ability to hold or contain people or things — usually singular

toxic – adj. containing poisonous material

fume⁶ – n. a smoke or gas

consent - n. permission for something to happen or be done

hazardous - n. involving risk or danger

consumption - n. the use of something (such as fuel)

1 alliance   

n.同盟，同盟国，结盟，联姻

参考例句：

• China will not enter into alliance with any big power.中国不同任何大国结盟。
• The new alliance was very much in evidence.新的联盟上星期很引人注目。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

5 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

6 fume   

n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟，气，汽

参考例句：

• The pressure of fume in chimney increases slowly from top to bottom.烟道内压力自上而下逐渐增加，底层住户的排烟最为不利。
• Your harsh words put her in a fume.你那些难听的话使她生气了。

7 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

11 consumption   

n.消费，消耗，消费额，消耗量，结核病

参考例句：

• Consumption of oil has declined in recent years.石油消耗量在最近几年下降了。
• The meat was condemned as unfit for human consumption.这种肉已被宣布不适宜人们食用。