中國「洋垃圾」禁令讓西方國家無所適從
中國的一處塑料垃圾堆。英國官員和西方國家正在倉促地處理這樣的垃圾。中國對許多回收廢品的進口禁令在1月1日生效。 FRED DUFOUR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
LONDON — Ever since China announced last year that it no longer wanted to be the 「world』s garbage dump,」 recycling about half of the globe』s plastics and paper products, Western nations have been puzzling over what to do when the ban went into effect, which it did on Jan. 1.
倫敦——自去年中國宣布不再想成為「世界的垃圾桶」——回收全球大約一半的塑料和紙製品之後，西方國家一直在苦苦思考，當禁令生效後要怎麼辦。該禁令已於1月1日正式生效。
The answer, to date, in Britain at least, is nothing. At least one waste disposal site in London is already seeing a buildup of plastic recyclables and has had to pay to have some of it removed.
到目前為止，至少在英國，答案是什麼都不做。倫敦至少有一家廢棄物處置場正在眼看著塑料回收物不斷堆積，並且不得不付費來把其中一些挪走。
Similar backups have been reported in Canada, Ireland, Germany and several other European nations, while tons of rubbish is piling up in port cities like Hong Kong.
有報道稱，加拿大、愛爾蘭、德國和其他幾個歐洲國家採取了類似的備用計劃，無數的垃圾正在如香港這樣的港口城市堆積成山。
Steve Frank, of Pioneer Recycling in Oregon, owns two plants that collect and sort 220,000 tons of recyclable materials each year. A majority of was until recently exported to China.
俄勒岡州先鋒回收公司(Pioneer Recycling)的史蒂夫·弗蘭克(Steve Frank)擁有兩座工廠，每年收集22萬噸可回收材料並進行分類。直到最近，其中大部分都會出口中國。
「My inventory is out of control,」 he said.
「我的庫存已經失控了，」他說。
China』s ban, Mr. Frank said, has caused 「a major upset of the flow of global recyclables.」 Now, he said, he is hoping to export waste to countries like Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia — 「anywhere we can」 — but 「they can』t make up the difference.」
弗蘭克說，中國的禁令已經讓「全球回收物的流動大受打擊」。他說他現在希望把廢品出口到印度尼西亞、印度、越南和馬來西亞這樣的國家——「到任何我們可以的地方」，但「他們還是無法彌補這個差距」。
In Britain, Jacqueline O』Donovan, managing director of the British waste disposal firm, O』Donovan Waste Disposal, said that 「the market has completely changed」 since China』s decision went into effect. Her company collects and disposes about 70,000 tons of plastic trash every year, she said, and expects 「huge bottlenecks across the whole of England」 in the coming months.
在英國，廢品處理公司歐多諾萬廢品處理(O』Donovan Waste Disposal)的總經理傑奎琳·歐多諾萬(Jacqueline O』Donovan)說，自從中國的決定生效以來，「這個市場徹底改變了」。她說，她的公司每年收集並處理約70000噸塑料垃圾，並預計在接下來的幾個月，「英國到處都會出現大麻煩」。
Britain』s prime minister, Theresa May, pledged on Thursday to eliminate avoidable wastes within 25 years. In a prepared speech, she urged supermarkets to introduce plastic-free aisles where all the food is loose.
周四，英國首相特麗莎·梅(Theresa May)做出保證，要在25年內消除可以避免的廢物。在一份準備好的演講中，她敦促超市推出不用塑料包裝的貨架通道，所有食品都是散裝。
The European Union, for its part, plans to propose a tax on plastic bags and packaging, citing the China ban and the health of the oceans among other reasons.
歐盟引述了中國的禁令和海洋生態健康等各種原因，計劃提出一項對塑料袋和包裝徵收新稅的法案。
Those measures might help ease the situation some day, but for now Britain is faced with growing piles of recyclables and no place to put them. Experts say the immediate response to the crisis may well be to turn to incineration or landfills — both harmful to the environment.
這些舉措有一天或許會有助於緩解這個問題，但英國目前面臨著回收物的不斷堆積，卻沒有地方可以放置它們。專家表示，對這場危機最立即的回應可能就是進行焚燒或填埋——這兩種方法都會對環境造成傷害。
英國阿斯科特的一家回收站。STEVE PARSONS/PRESS ASSOCIATION, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
China』s ban covers imports of 24 kinds of solid waste, including unsorted paper and the low-grade polyethylene terephthalate used in plastic bottles, as part of a broad cleanup effort and a campaign against 「yang laji,」 or 「foreign garbage.」 It also sets new limits on the levels of impurities in other recyclables.
作為一場廣泛的清理項目和打擊「洋垃圾」活動的一部分，中國的禁令覆蓋了24種進口固體廢物，包括未分類的紙製品和塑料瓶使用的低檔滌綸樹脂。該國同時也對其他回收物的雜質含量設定了新的限制。
China had been processing at least half of the world』s exports of waste paper, metals and used plastic — 7.3 million tons in 2016, according to recent industry data. Last July, China notified the World Trade Organization that it intended to ban some imports of trash, saying the action was needed to protect the environment and improve public health.
長期以來，中國處理了全世界至少一半的紙製品、金屬和塑料廢品出口，根據最近的行業數據，2016年共處理了730萬噸。去年7月，中國對世界貿易組織(World Trade Organization)表示，它計劃禁止對一些垃圾的進口，稱這個舉動對於保護該國的環境和改善公眾健康是有必要的。
「Large amounts of dirty wastes or even hazardous wastes are mixed in the solid waste that can be used as raw materials,」 Beijing wrote to the W.T.O. 「This polluted China』s environment seriously.」
「大量的高污染垃圾甚至危險性廢物，混合在可回收成為原材料的固體垃圾中，」北京向世界貿易組織寫道，「嚴重污染了中國的環境。」
Chinese officials also complained that much of the recyclable material the country received from overseas had not been properly cleaned or was mixed with non-recyclable materials.
中國官員還抱怨稱，該國從海外接收的回收材料中，許多都沒有得到妥善的消毒，或者與非可回收材料混在了一起。
The sudden move has left Western countries scrambling to deal with a buildup of plastic and paper garbage while looking for new markets for the waste.
這個突然的舉動讓西方國家不得不倉促處理堆積如山的塑料和紙製品垃圾，同時尋找這些廢品的新市場。
「It』s not just a U.K. problem,」 said Simon Ellin, chief executive of the Recycling Association in Britain. 「The rest of the world is thinking, 『What can we do?』 It』s tough times.」
「這不僅是英國的問題，」英國回收協會(Recycling Association)執行主管西蒙·埃林(Simon Ellin)說。「世界其他國家都在想，『我們能做什麼？』當前的情況很艱難。」
In Halifax, Nova Scotia, which sent 80 percent of its recycling to China, Matthew Keliher, the city』s manager of solid waste, said he had largely found alternatives to accept plastic, except for the low-grade plastic film that is used to make shopping bags and for wrapping. Stockpiles of those plastics have so exceeded the city』s storage capacity that Halifax had to get special permission to bury about 300 metric tons of the material in a landfill.
在80%的回收垃圾都銷往中國的新斯科舍省哈利法克斯，負責固體垃圾事務的馬修·凱利赫(Matthew Keliher)說，他基本上已經找到了接受塑料的其他買家，但用來生產購物袋和包裝材料的低級塑料薄膜除外。這些塑料的庫存已超過哈利法克斯的存儲能力，以致該市不得不獲得特別許可，將大約300噸這種材料埋在一處垃圾填埋場。
In Calgary, Alberta, which sent 50 percent of its plastics and 100 percent of its mixed papers to China, the material is being stockpiled in empty storage sheds, shipping containers, trailers and warehouses since last fall. So far, 5,000 tons has been collected, Sharon Howland, the city』s lead manager of waste and recycling services, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
阿爾伯塔省的卡爾加里把50%的塑料和全部雜廢紙運往了中國。在這裡，從去年秋天開始，這類材料就被存儲在空庫房、集裝箱、拖車和倉庫里。該市垃圾和回收利用服務的負責人莎倫·霍蘭德(Sharon Howland)告訴加拿大廣播公司(Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)，截至目前，已經收集了5000噸。
「The material are a sellable resource, so we will store them as long as we can and evaluate our options from there,」 she said.
「這些材料是一種可售的資源，因此我們會盡量保存，然後再評估我們的選擇，」她說。
In Britain, even the political class appeared caught by surprise. When asked in front of lawmakers about the impending ban last month, Environment Secretary Michael Gove fumbled: 「I don』t know what impact it will have. It is something to which — I will be completely honest — I have not given sufficient thought.」
在英國，就連政界似乎也措手不及。上月在議員面前被問及即將實施的禁令時，環境大臣邁克爾·戈夫(Michael Gove)結結巴巴地說：「我不知道會有什麼影響。這件事——非常坦率地說——我還沒有充分考慮過。」
肯亞內羅畢的一座垃圾場里堆積成山的垃圾和塑料袋。BEN CURTIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pollution from plastics has captured global attention in recent years. A new David Attenborough series on the BBC, 「Blue Planet II,」 has shown plastic bags and bottles clogging oceans and killing fish, turtles and other marine wildlife, prompting governments to put in place more stringent rules.
近年來，塑料造成的污染引起了全球的關注。BBC播出的大衛·愛登堡(David Attenborough)的《藍色星球2》(Blue Planet II)系列節目顯示，塑料袋和塑料瓶造成海洋堵塞，魚類、龜類和其他海洋野生動物死亡，促使各國政府實施更嚴格的規定。
Every year, Britain sends China enough recyclables to fill up 10,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to Greenpeace U.K. The United States exports more than 13.2 million tons of scrap paper and 1.42 million tons of scrap plastics annually to China, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries has reported. That is the sixth-largest American export to China.
綠色和平組織英國分部(Greenpeace U.K.)的數據顯示，英國每年運往中國的可回收垃圾，足以填滿一萬個奧運標準游泳池。廢品回收行業協會(Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries)的報告稱，美國每年向中國出口逾1320萬噸廢紙和142萬噸廢棄塑料。這是美國對中國的第六大出口商品。
「There may be alternative markets but they』re not ready today,」 said Emmanuel Katrakis, the secretary general of the European Recycling Industries』 Confederation in Brussels.
「可能有其他市場，但它們現在還沒有準備好，」設在布魯塞爾的歐洲回收行業聯盟(European Recycling Industries』 Confederation)秘書長伊曼紐爾·卡特拉基斯(Emmanuel Katrakis)說。
Mr. Katrakis dismissed China』s claims that all imported scrap waste contained high levels of contaminants, and said that Beijing』s thresholds for most types of scrap were 「far more demanding」 than in Europe or the United States. At the same time, he said, Europe has focused too much on collecting plastic waste and shipping it out, and not enough on encouraging manufacturers to use it in new products.
對於中國稱進口的所有廢品廢料都含有大量污染物的說法，卡特拉基斯表示反駁，稱北京對大部分廢品制定的門檻「遠高於」歐洲和美國。與此同時，他說，歐洲過於關注收集塑料垃圾和把它們運出去，但對鼓勵製造商用它們生產新產品的關注不夠。
「We』ve got to start producing less and we』ve got to produce better-quality recyclable goods,」 Mr. Ellin said.
「我們必須開始降低產量，生產質量更好的可回收產品，」埃林說。
Too often, he said, manufacturers produce environmentally harmful products and then 「pass the buck」 to retailers, who in turn pass it to local councils to pick up the tab to sort out the waste for recycling.
他說，製造商常常生產出對環境有害的產品，然後「把責任推給」零售商，後者又把出錢對可回收垃圾進行分類的責任轉移給地方議會。
「What』s happened is that the final link in the supply chain has turned around and said: 『No, we』re not going to take this poor-quality stuff anymore. Keep it for yourself.』」
「現在的情況是，這條供應鏈上的最後一環轉過頭來說：『不，我們不會再接收這種劣質的東西了。你們自己留著吧。』」
「The contamination can no longer be more than 0.5 percent,」 he said, referring to the stringent levels that China has imposed on some of the materials that it hasn』t banned so far.
「污染物的含量不能再超過0.5%，」他指的是中國對目前還沒有被禁的一些材料實行的嚴格限制。
Are plastic waste from overseas 「the reason why you can』t see blue skies in china?」 he asked. 「I don』t think so. Go fight the big battles, not the small battles.」
來自海外的塑料垃圾「是在中國看不到藍天的原因嗎？」他問。「我認為不是。去打大仗吧，不要耗在小仗上。」
作者：KIMIKO DE FREYTAS-TAMURA
Ian Austen自渥太華、Catherine Porter自多倫多對本文有報道貢獻。
翻譯：紐約時報中文網
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