塑料瓶被扔掉后去了哪儿？

每天一个永续美好生活类视频

周日·生命

塑料瓶被扔掉后去了哪儿

翻译：瑞塔  朴自然译制

这是三个空废弃塑料瓶的故事

This is the story of three plastic bottles,empty and discarded.

它们即将分道扬镳，踏上各自的旅程，

Their journeys are about to diverge

他们最终都将影响地球的命运。

with outcomes that impact nothing less than the fate of the planet.

但是影响的方式却不一样

But they weren't always this way.

想要了解这些瓶子将去向何方，

To understand where these bottles end up,

我们必须先探究它们的来源。

we must first explore their origins.

我们故事的主角在炼油厂诞生。

The heroes of our story were conceived in this oil refinery.

形成它们身体的塑料

The plastic in their bodies

是结合起来的油与汽的分子

was formed by chemically bonding oil and gas molecules together

通过化学反应产生的单体所构成的。

to make monomers.

这些单体由长长的聚合物链组成，

In turn, these monomers were bonded into long polymer chains

以数百万小球的形式形成塑料。

to make plastic in the form of millions of pellets.

这些单体在工厂里被加热融化，通过模具塑型，

Those were melted at manufacturing plants and reformed in molds

形成弹性材料，用于生产这些塑料瓶。

to create the resilient material that makes up the triplets' bodies.

机器把甜汽水灌入瓶中，

Machines filled the bottles with sweet bubbly liquid

然后瓶子被包装成箱、运送发货、分销卖出、 再由消费者开瓶使用，

and they were then wrapped, shipped, bought, opened, consumed

最后被粗鲁地扔掉

and unceremoniously discarded.

这就是它们现在的归宿，

And now here they lie,

在未知世界的边缘蓄势待发。

poised at the edge of the unknown.

一号瓶子，同它亿万吨的塑料弟兄们一样，

Bottle one, like hundreds of millions of tons of his plastic brothers,

生命终结在垃圾填埋场。

ends up in a landfill.

这个垃圾堆每天都在变大

This huge dump expands each day

因为不断有垃圾被倒进来占取地球空间。

as more trash comes in and continues to take up space.

塑料与其他的垃圾一层层累积，

As plastics sit there being compressed amongst layers of other junk,

当雨水流经这些垃圾时，

rainwater flows through the waste

会吸收其中的水溶性化合物，

and absorbs the water-soluble compounds it contains,

而某些化合物含有剧毒

and some of those are highly toxic.

它们聚集在一起，形成有害的“垃圾渗滤液”，

Together, they create a harmful stew called leachate,

这种“垃圾渗滤液”可以进入地下水、土壤、河流，

which can move into groundwater, soil and streams,

毒害生态系统和野生动植物。

poisoning ecosystems and harming wildlife.

一号瓶子大概要一千多年才能分解。

It can take bottle one an agonizing 1,000 years to decompose.

二号瓶子的旅途则比较奇特，但是并不愉快。

Bottle two's journey is stranger but, unfortunately, no happier.

它漂浮在山涧，山涧汇入小溪，

He floats on a trickle that reaches a stream,

小溪流向小河，

a stream that flows into a river,

小河流向海洋，

and a river that reaches the ocean.

在海洋中漂浮数月后，

After months lost at sea,

它慢慢地被卷进了一个巨大的垃圾漩涡中，

he's slowly drawn into a massive vortex, where trash accumulates,

那个地方叫作“大太平洋垃圾带”。

a place known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

在这里，海洋涡流困住了无数垃圾碎片，

Here the ocean's currents have trapped millions of pieces of plastic debris.

是世界上五大海洋垃圾漩涡之一。

This is one of five plastic-filled gyres in the world's seas.

在这些地方，污染物把海水变成了浑浊的塑料汤。

Places where the pollutants turn the water into a cloudy plastic soup.

一些动物，比如海鸟，会不小心陷入这里无法自救。

Some animals, like seabirds, get entangled in the mess.

还有其他动物，误将鲜艳的塑料当做食物。

They, and others, mistake the brightly colored plastic bits for food.

于是，即使不吃东西也不会有饥饿感，

Plastic makes them feel full when they're not,

然后它们就饿死了，

so they starve to death

并且把这些来自塑料的有毒物质带入食物链。

and pass the toxins from the plastic up the food chain.

举个例子，塑料被灯笼鱼吃了，

For example, it's eaten by lanternfish,

灯笼鱼又被乌贼吃了，

the lanternfish are eaten by squid,

乌贼又被金枪鱼吃了，

the squid are eaten by tuna,

最后，金枪鱼被我们吃了。

and the tuna are eaten by us.

大多数塑料是无法生物降解的，

And most plastics don't biodegrade,

这意味着它们只会分解成越来越小的碎片，

which means they're destined to break down into smaller and smaller pieces

这种碎片叫做“微塑料”，

called micro plastics,

它们会在海中来回移动，永远地留在海里。

which might rotate in the sea eternally.

而三号瓶子却幸免于它的兄弟们所遭遇的炼狱。

But bottle three is spared the cruel purgatories of his brothers.

一辆卡车将它带到工厂,

A truck brings him to a plant

在这里，它和小伙伴们被压平，

where he and his companions are squeezed flat

之后再被压缩成块。

and compressed into a block.

嗯，这听起来也很糟糕，但是不要着急，

Okay, this sounds pretty bad, too, but hang in there.

情况会有转机的。

It gets better.

那些压缩块被切成小片，

The blocks are shredded into tiny pieces,

经过洗涤、熔化，

which are washed and melted,

变成了可以再次利用的原材料。

so they become the raw materials that can be used again.

好像变魔术一般，三号瓶子已经准备好重生了

As if by magic, bottle three is now ready to be reborn

重生为某样全新的物品。

as something completely new.

于是出身十分普通的塑料

For this bit of plastic with such humble origins,

突然也能够大放异彩了。

suddenly the sky is the limit.

(毕)