世界海洋日：盤點那些清理海洋的奇妙發明

今天是世界海洋日。

2008年12月5日第63屆聯合國大會通過第111號決議，決定自2009年起，每年的6月8日爲“世界海洋日（World Oceans Day）”。

2019年世界海洋日的主題是“性別與海洋（gender and oceans）”。

現在海洋污染已經非常嚴重，你不用潛到海里就可以看見海面上漂浮的成堆的垃圾，而且這些垃圾還在不斷增加。

幸好，我們的地球上還有一些人在設法清理海洋垃圾，還發明瞭各種高科技的“海洋清理神器”，來看看它們都有什麼本領吧。

The Seabin project
海上垃圾桶

Invented by two Aussie surfers, the Seabin is pretty much exactly what you think: it’s a large flowerpot-shaped container that captures everything from plastic bottles, bags and utensils, as well as trash as small as 2mm. A pump at the bottom of the bin sucks in water and rubbish, which are then separated by a mesh unit inside. The water is then released, while the trash is recycled.

由兩名澳洲衝浪者發明的海上垃圾桶Seabin和你猜想的差不多：它是一個花盆狀的大容器，可以捕獲塑料瓶、塑料袋和各種用具，包括2毫米那麼小的垃圾。垃圾桶底部的泵可以吸進水和垃圾，內部的網面會將它們分離。水被放掉，垃圾被回收。

The seabins are fitted around marinas and coasts, trapping rubbish before it can make its way into the ocean proper. According to the Seabin website, each bin can catch 90,000 plastic bags a year, nearly 36,000 disposable cups, 16,500 plastic bottles and 166,500 plastic utensils. There are over 700 Seabins located around the world, with many concentrated along the coasts of European countries.

海上垃圾桶被安裝在碼頭和海岸周圍，在垃圾進入內海之前就把垃圾截住。據Seabin官網介紹，每個垃圾桶每年可以捕獲9萬個塑料袋、近3.6萬個一次性杯子、16500個塑料瓶和166500個塑料用具。世界各地共有700多個海上垃圾桶，許多都集中在歐洲國家的海岸沿線。

marina[mə'rinə]: n. 碼頭

Recycling Technologies
回收垃圾新辦法

Capturing plastic in the oceans is one thing, but what to do with it once it’s back on land? According to the UN, less than one tenth of plastic produced gets recycled. However, one UK company has come up with an ingenious way of dealing with types of plastic that are ‘unrecyclable’— before they even make it into our waters.

捕獲海洋垃圾是一回事，但垃圾上岸後要怎麼處理它們呢？根據聯合國的數據，得到回收的塑料產品還不到十分之一。但是，一家英國公司想出了一種巧妙的辦法來處理“不可回收”的塑料，甚至是在這些塑料進入海洋之前。

Rather than let many types of plastic get sent to landfills, be incinerated or exported, Recycling Technologies has come up with another solution: melt it, and then turn it into an oil that can then be turned into everything from new packaging to wax for waterproofing, product surface coating and more.

“回收技術”公司不是將多種垃圾送去垃圾填埋場、焚燒或出口，而是想出了另一種解決辦法：將垃圾熔化提煉出一種油，並用這種油做成新包裝、防水蠟、產品表面塗層等各種產品。

incinerate[ɪn'sɪnəreɪt]: vt. 焚化；燒成灰

Plastic-eating enzyme
吃塑料的酶

An innovation that has a profound impact on plastic was created completely by accident. Back in April 2018, scientists announced that they inadvertently created an enzyme called PETase that can break polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics down to its original chemicals.

這項對塑料產生深遠影響的創新技術的出現完全是偶然。2018年4月，科學家宣佈無意間創造出了一種名爲PETase的酶，這種酶可以把聚對苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）塑料分解成原始的化學物質。

inadvertently['ɪnəd'vɝtntli]: adv. 無意地，不經意地

enzyme['ɛnzaɪm]: n. [生化] 酶

This is seen as a breakthrough because PET, which is used to make packaging by the food and drink industry, is extremely hard to break down into a state that would allow it to be recycled into other high-quality plastic products, instead coming out as a lower-grade and therefore less-valuable product. This means that new high-quality plastic packaging still has to be made.

這被視爲突破性進展，因爲用於食品和飲料包裝的PET極其難分解，無法經過回收重新制成高質量塑料產品，只能製成低價值的低級產品。這意味着還要用新原料來製作高質量的塑料包裝。

However, with the discovery of PETase, it is hoped the recycling loop can be closed so that old PET products get recycled into products of the same high-quality.

然而，隨着PETase被發現，塑料包裝有望實現循環回收利用，舊的PET產品將能經過回收被重新制成同樣高質量的產品。

WasteShark
垃圾鯊魚

Referred to as the ‘Wall-E of the water’ the WasteShark is an aquadrone that sucks up garbage from the water.

綽號“水中瓦力”的垃圾鯊魚是從海水中吸走垃圾的水下無人機。

Created by RanMarine, a Dutch environmental technology company, the WasteShark was initially deployed in the Dubai Marina. It can swim for up to 16 hours and consume as much as 1,100lbs of trash.

荷蘭環保技術公司RanMarine製造的垃圾鯊魚最初被用於迪拜碼頭。垃圾鯊魚可以持續遊16個小時，吃進多達1100磅（約500千克）的垃圾。

It collects everything from floating trash, plastic and even microplastic. It has sensors that measure everything from pH, nitrate, water salinity and chloride. Once the trash is collected, the aquadrone delivers it to the collection point.

垃圾鯊魚可以收集從漂浮物到塑料的各種垃圾，甚至可以吸進塑料微粒。它的傳感器可以測量酸鹼度、硝酸鹽、鹽度、氯化物等各種指標。一旦垃圾裝滿，水下無人機就會把垃圾送到收集點。

PlanetCare’s washing machine filter
可以捕獲微纖維的洗衣機過濾網

PlanetCare approaches the issue of ocean pollution from a different angle. Rather than dealing with the plastic pollution that has already made it out into the open water, the Slovenian company designed a product that tackles it at source.

PlanetCare公司從一個不同的角度來應對海洋垃圾問題。這家斯洛維尼亞公司不是處理已經進入海洋的塑料垃圾，而是設計出一個從源頭控制污染的產品。

The company’s focus is microfibres on items of clothing such as fleeces. These strands, as small as 0.5mm are too small to be captured by machine wash filters, and ultimately make their way into the ocean, where they are mistaken for food by marine life. The fish can then suffocate on the fibers which can also attract toxins.

這家公司專注於對付絨毛這種衣物上的微纖維。這些只有0.5毫米大小的微纖維無法被洗衣機的過濾網捕獲，最終會進入海洋，被海洋生物誤認爲食物。這些微纖維會導致魚類窒息，還會吸收毒素。

PlanetCare has created a special washing machine filter that is designed to capture the fibres shed from clothes during washes, which can add up to as many as 700,000 per average 6kg wash.

PlanetCare公司發明出一種特別的洗衣機過濾網，旨在捕獲衣物清洗過程中掉落的微纖維。6千克衣物在清洗過程中掉落的微纖維平均可達70萬個。