減少節(jié)日期間的包裝浪費

減少節(jié)日期間的包裝浪費

You don't have to strive for zero waste perfection. Every effort to reduce unnecessary paper and plastic waste is worthwhile.

你不必追求零浪費的完美。所有減少不必要的紙張和塑料浪費的努力都是值得的。

Giving and receiving gifts is one of the great pleasures of the holiday season, but that pleasure is somewhat reduced when you behold the pile of packaging waste that's left behind. And this year, in the midst of America's Great Recycling Crisis, the residual packaging waste is a bigger deal than ever.

送禮物和收禮物是節(jié)日最大的樂趣之一，但當(dāng)你看到剩下的一堆包裝垃圾時，這種樂趣就有所減少了。而今年，在美國巨大的回收危機(jī)中，包裝垃圾的殘留比以往任何時候都要嚴(yán)重。

CC BY 2.0. frankieleon – Christmas morning aftermath

As we've written before on TreeHugger, China closed its doors to plastic waste imports in January 2011. Up until then it had taken 70 percent of the United States' plastic waste and two-thirds of the UK's. Even though the U.S. had ample warning of the impending change, it failed to build additional recycling infrastructure or to launch waste-reduction campaigns or to pressure manufacturers to come up with better packaging designs – just a few of the many things it could have done to cope with this enormous problem. As a result, the recycling situation is in a state of chaos.

正如我們之前在環(huán)保博客上所寫的，中國在2011年1月關(guān)閉了塑料垃圾進(jìn)口的大門。在此之前，美國70%的塑料垃圾和英國三分之二的塑料垃圾都去到中國。雖然美國有充足的警告即將發(fā)生的變化,它未能構(gòu)建額外的回收設(shè)施或啟動執(zhí)行減少廢棄物活動或向制造商施壓，讓他們想出更好的包裝設(shè)計——這只是解決這個巨大問題所能做的眾多事情中的幾件。因此，回收情況處于混亂狀態(tài)。

These issues, which are big enough on a day-to-day basis, are intensified during the holidays, when people are shopping and consuming more than ever, particularly online. UPS predicts it will deliver 800 million packages this holiday season, up from 762 million last year at this time. If FedEx's numbers match those from last year, it will deliver 400 million. That's a whole lot of cardboard boxes, plastic bags, and packing peanuts.

這些問題在日常生活中已經(jīng)足夠大了，但在節(jié)假日期間，人們的購物和消費比以往任何時候都要多，尤其是在網(wǎng)上。聯(lián)合包裹服務(wù)公司預(yù)計，今年假日季將遞送8億個包裹，高于去年同期的7.62億個。如果聯(lián)邦快遞的數(shù)據(jù)與去年持平，它將遞送4億件貨物。那是一大堆紙板箱、塑料袋和包裝的東西。

Lamenting the lack of recycling infrastructure is not going to change the unfortunate fact that our society is not set up to handle this level of waste right now. But knowing that, we have a clear responsibility to minimize this waste as best we can, and tackling it on a personal level is all we can do.

哀嘆回收基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的缺乏并不能改變一個不幸的事實，那就是我們的社會現(xiàn)在沒有建立起來處理這種程度的垃圾。但知道這一點，我們有明確的責(zé)任盡量減少這種浪費，在個人層面上解決它是我們所能做的。

I urge you to make a point of avoiding unnecessary packaging when shopping for and wrapping holiday gifts. You can do this in a number of ways.

我強(qiáng)烈建議你在購買和包裝節(jié)日禮物時避免不必要的包裝。您可以通過多種方式實現(xiàn)這一點。

– Make your own presents, using materials you already have.

-用你已有的材料自己制作禮物。

– Buy presents loose, without outer packaging, and refuse any additional bags or boxes.

–購買散裝禮物，沒有外包裝，并拒絕任何額外的袋子或盒子。

– Buy second-hand presents from thrift stores, local swap sites, or antique shops. These always come free from packaging.

-從舊貨店、當(dāng)?shù)氐慕粨Q網(wǎng)站或古董店購買二手禮物。這些東西都是沒有包裝的。

– Leave surplus packaging at the store – whatever you don't need in the case of a return. Send a message to the brand that you don't support their packaging design.

-把多余的包裝留在店里-任何你不需要的東西，以防退貨。向品牌傳達(dá)你不支持他們的包裝設(shè)計的信息。

– When shopping online, inquire about packaging prior to placing an order. Support companies whose shipping bags and boxes are plastic-free and fully recyclable.

-網(wǎng)上購物時，下單前先詢問包裝。支持公司的運輸袋和箱子是無塑料和完全可回收利用。

– Use non-salvageable paper and cardboard as fire starter.

-使用不可回收的紙張及硬紙板作為起火工具。

– Consider not wrapping presents, or just wrapping the kids' presents. Create a new gift-giving model where the giver presents an unwrapped gift to the recipient.

-考慮不包裝禮物，或者只是包裝孩子的禮物。創(chuàng)建一種新的送禮模式，即送禮者向收禮者贈送未包裝的禮物。

It's not going to solve the recycling crisis overnight, but neither will improving our recycling infrastructure. What's needed more than that is a dramatic shift in the way we shop and handle our goods, always moving toward less packaging.

它不會在一夜之間解決回收危機(jī)，也不會改善我們的回收基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。我們更需要的是在購物和處理商品的方式上有一個戲劇性的轉(zhuǎn)變，總是朝著減少包裝的方向發(fā)展。