中國禁止進口洋垃圾 英國着急了

Experts predict growing chaos in the United Kingdom as materials build up at recycling plants around Britain following China's global ban on importing millions of metric tons of plastic waste.

專家預計，中國禁止進口來自全球的數百萬噸塑料垃圾之後，英國各地的處理廠將堆滿垃圾，情況將越來越混亂。

Simon Ellin, chief executive of the UK Recycling Association, a group that represents more than 80 UK recycling organizations, has called for urgent action, saying his members are already seeing lower-grade plastics pile up.

英國回收協會董事長西蒙-埃林呼籲採取緊急行動。他表示，協會成員已經發現劣質垃圾越堆越多。該協會成員包括80多家英國垃圾回收機構。

China was the main destination of the world's recyclable plastic but, since Monday, Beijing has banned 24 types of imported waste, including plastic and mixed paper.

中國曾經是全球可回收利用塑料垃圾的主要接收國，但自本週一（1月1日）以來，中國已禁止進口24種廢棄物，包括廢塑料和未經分揀的廢紙。

The move was part of the Chinese government's campaign against "foreign garbage", which it has described as harmful to the environment and public health.

這項舉措是中國政府打擊“洋垃圾”整治行動的一部分，政府稱“洋垃圾”對環境和公共衛生有害。

Ellin said the ramifications of the ban are already apparent in some of his members' yards.

埃林說，協會一些成員的垃圾處理廠已經受到這一禁令的影響。

"Plastics are building up," he said. "If you were to go around those yards in a couple of months' time, the situation would be even worse."

他說：“垃圾越堆越多。如果你過幾個月再去看看，會發現情況更糟糕。”

Previously, the UK exported almost two-thirds of its total waste to China with UK businesses shipping more than 2.7 million tons of plastic waste to China since 2012, according to data from environmental group Greenpeace.

此前，英國將全部垃圾的近三分之二出口到中國。根據環保機構綠色和平組織的數據，自2012年以來，英國船運到中國的廢塑料超過270萬噸。

Ellin said many UK recyclers stopped shipping plastic to the world's second-largest economy in the autumn because of fears it might not arrive before the deadline.

埃林說，去年秋季，很多英國回收站不再將廢塑料發船運往中國，因爲他們擔心在禁令生效前無法運達。

"We have relied on exporting plastic recycling to China for 20 years and now people do not know what is going to happen," he told the Guardian newspaper."A lot of (our members) are now sitting back and seeing what comes out of the woodwork, but people are very worried."

他對《衛報》表示：“過去20年我們一直依賴於把廢塑料出口到中國去，現在大家不知道接下來該怎麼辦了。現在我們很多成員就這麼幹耗着，等着看會發生什麼，但人們非常擔心。”

He warned that local authorities' recycling efforts in the UK will bear the brunt of the ban in the short term.

他提醒說，短期內，英國地方當局的回收工作將首先受到衝擊。

"If it no longer pays for our members to take this waste and sort it once it has been collected by councils, then that might stop," Ellin said. "This might mean that councils no longer collect recycling in the same way. It could be chaos, it really could."

埃林說：“如果地方議會的相關部門收了垃圾後不再爲我們的成員支付收取和分類的費用，那有可能垃圾就不能得到處理了。這可能意味着地方議會要換個辦法去回收處理。這會引起混亂，真的會。”

The recycling business will now have to look to alternative destinations, such as Malaysia and Vietnam for their exports.

垃圾回收企業如今必須尋找其他的出口地了，比如馬來西亞和越南。

But some industry experts believe China's decision to shut its doors could be an opportunity for the UK to develop its recycling infrastructure.

但一些業內專家認爲，中國對洋垃圾關上大門對英國發展自身的回收設施來說也是個機遇。

Ellin said there is a need to look at the "entire system from producing less, to better, simpler design, to standardized recycling".

埃林說，需要審視“從減少生產，到改善並簡化設計，再到標準化回收的整個系統。”