2050年海洋中的塑料会比鱼还多
More plastic than fish in oceans by 2050
The world is flooded with plastic garbage.
在我们的世界,塑料垃圾已经泛滥成灾.
There will be more plastic than fish in terms of weight in the world's oceans by 2050, the World Economic Forum warned Tuesday.
1月19日,世界经济论坛发出警告：到2050年,世界各大海洋中的塑料垃圾总重量将超过海中鱼类.
Plastic has become one of the world's most popular materials, combining amazing functionality and very low production costs. Its use has increased 20-fold in the past 50 years and is expected to double again in the next 20 years.
塑料制品应用广泛、造价低廉,在世界各地都广受人们欢迎.过去五十年中,塑料使用量增长了20倍,并且有望在接下来的20年里再翻一番.
Almost everybody in the world comes into contact with it -- over a quarter of all plastic is used for packaging, the most popular use of the material.
塑料制品中最受欢迎的当属塑料袋了,超过四分之一的塑料最终都制成了各种袋子.日常生活中,几乎每个人都要用到它.
But only 14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling. The reuse rate is terrible compared to other materials -- 58% of paper and up to 90% of iron and steel gets recycled.
但是,全球只有14%的塑料袋得以回收利用.纸张再用率为58%,而钢铁的循环使用率可高达90%,相较于这些资源,塑料的再使用情况则相当糟糕.
It gets worse. Almost a third of all plastic packaging escapes collection systems and ends up in nature or clogging up infrastructure.
眼下,情况变得越来越糟了.近三分之一的塑料袋无法回收,要么堵在了城市基础设施的某个角落,要么在自然界中"自生自灭".
"After a short first-use cycle, 95% of plastic packaging material value, or $80 billion to $120 billion annually, is lost to the economy," the WEF said in a report.
