為什么很多塑料包裝最終進(jìn)入了垃圾填埋場(chǎng)

Today, when you recycle a plastic container, it goes to a material recovery facility, where it must be identified and sorted.

現(xiàn)在回收塑料瓶時(shí)會(huì)送到材料回收設(shè)施那里，必須要進(jìn)行識(shí)別和分類(lèi)。

Facilities typically rely on imprecise older technology to try to figure out materials in a particular piece of waste. Workers standing next to conveyor belts as packages whiz by can catch others.

回收設(shè)施通常依靠不精確的舊技術(shù)試著找出一塊廢料中的可回收材料。包裹在傳送帶上飛速而過(guò)，工人站在旁邊抓住。

But by embedding a microscopic change in a pattern of pixels—called an invisible bar code—on the label, software can instantly identify the package so it can be sorted and recycled correctly.

但通過(guò)對(duì)商標(biāo)的像素模式進(jìn)行輕微改動(dòng)，也被稱(chēng)為隱形條碼，軟件就能立刻識(shí)別出這個(gè)包裹，準(zhǔn)確進(jìn)行分類(lèi)回收。

Several of the world’s largest brands, including PepsiCo, Nestle, and P&G, have spent the last two years collaborating with Digimarc, the company that developed the technology.

在過(guò)去兩年，百事可樂(lè)、雀巢和寶潔等全球大品牌與開(kāi)發(fā)這種技術(shù)的Digimarc公司進(jìn)行了合作。

Working with recyclers, retailers, and recycling machine manufacturers to test the system, the project aims to target one of the reasons that many plastic packages end up in landfills.

該項(xiàng)目和回收公司、零售商以及回收設(shè)備制造商合作測(cè)試該系統(tǒng)，目的是要弄清楚為什么很多塑料包裝最終進(jìn)入了垃圾填埋場(chǎng)。

“Obviously, there isn’t one silver bullet solution to the plastic issue,” says Sander Defruyt, who leads the New Plastics Economy initiative at the nonprofit Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which initially brought the companies together when the project began.

非營(yíng)利性組織艾倫·麥克阿瑟基金會(huì)“新塑料經(jīng)濟(jì)”倡議的發(fā)起人Sander Defruyt說(shuō)：“顯然解決塑料問(wèn)題沒(méi)有萬(wàn)全之策”，在項(xiàng)目開(kāi)始之初就是艾倫·麥克阿瑟基金會(huì)把各公司召集到一起的。

“We need to start by eliminating the plastic we don’t need. We need a lot of innovation shifting from single-use to reuse business models. But recycling is still one part of the problem, and [brands] realize that to make recycling work, we need to improve the way plastic waste is sorted in sorting centers.”

“我們要從消除不需要的塑料開(kāi)始，需要有創(chuàng)新的方式將商業(yè)模式從一次性轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橹貜?fù)使用。但回收仍然是一個(gè)問(wèn)題，‘各大品牌’意識(shí)到為了更有效地回收，我們需要在分類(lèi)中心改進(jìn)塑料垃圾分類(lèi)的方式。”

By sorting more accurately, the final bales of material are more valuable, and the total amount of material that can be recycled increases.

通過(guò)更準(zhǔn)確地分類(lèi)，回收過(guò)程最后獲得的材料會(huì)更有價(jià)值，能被回收的材料總數(shù)才會(huì)增加。

The system can identify whether a bottle was used for food or something like shampoo—a crucial step that current systems can’t accomplish but is necessary for food companies that want to buy recycled plastic to reuse in new packaging, as European regulations prohibit them from using recycled plastic that was originally for something other than food.

該系統(tǒng)能識(shí)別一個(gè)瓶子是裝過(guò)食品還是裝過(guò)洗發(fā)水一類(lèi)的東西，這是目前系統(tǒng)無(wú)法完成的關(guān)鍵一步，對(duì)于想要購(gòu)買(mǎi)再生塑料制成新包裝的食品公司來(lái)說(shuō)也是很有必要的，因?yàn)闅W洲法規(guī)禁止他們使用原本用于食品以外的其他用途的再生塑料。