6種“一廂情愿式回收”

We have all done it: a greasy pizza box, a disposable coffee cup, the odd plastic bag. Sometimes, we want things to be recyclable, so we put them in the recycling bin.

這種事我們都干過：沾滿油污的披薩盒，一次性咖啡杯，多余的塑料袋。有時，我們希望這些東西能回收，于是把它們丟進(jìn)了可回收垃圾箱。

Waste managers often call this wishful or aspirational recycling. But, unfortunately, putting these objects in with the rest of the recycling can do more harm than good. While rules differ in every municipality (check your local recycling website to find out what’s acceptable), we have picked out some key offenders to keep in mind.

垃圾管理公司經(jīng)常把這種行為稱為一廂情愿或熱切盼望式回收。但是，不幸的是，把這些東西與其他可回收物放在一起弊大于利。雖然每個城市的規(guī)定各不相同(查看當(dāng)?shù)氐睦厥站W(wǎng)站，弄清哪些是可接受的)，我們挑選了一些主要禍害，讓大家記住。

Too many of these items will contaminate a batch of recycling. That means waste managers might not be able to find buyers for the materials — especially now that China, one of the world’s main importers of recyclable waste, has said it will reject shipments that are more than 0.5 percent impure. Contaminated loads could be sent to the landfill instead.

如果這種東西太多，會污染一批可回收物。那意味著，垃圾管理公司可能無法為這些材料找到買家，尤其是考慮到，主要的可回收垃圾進(jìn)口國中國已表示，將拒絕接收不純率在0.5%以上的垃圾。受到污染的可回收物可能會被送到垃圾填埋場。

Disposable cups 一次性杯子

Your disposable coffee cup might seem like it can be recycled, but most single-use cups are lined with a fine film of polyethylene, which makes the cups liquid-proof but also difficult and expensive to reprocess (because the materials have to be separated). Most waste management facilities will treat the cups as trash.

一次性咖啡杯看似可以回收利用，但大多數(shù)一次性杯子的內(nèi)壁都有一層聚乙烯薄膜，那是為了讓杯子防水，但對這層薄膜進(jìn)行再加工十分困難，而且代價不菲(因為必須剝離這種材料)。大多數(shù)垃圾管理機(jī)構(gòu)把這種杯子當(dāng)作垃圾處理。

If you’re putting these cups in with your recycling, they are likely contaminating the rest of the materials, said Jim Ace, a senior campaigner at Stand.earth, an environmental group. In an experiment this year, the group affixed electronic trackers inside Starbucks cups, put the cups in recycling bins in Denver, then traced them to a landfill.

環(huán)保組織Stand.earth資深項目主任吉姆·埃斯(Jim Ace)表示，如果你把這些杯子和其他回收物放在一起，那么它們很有可能會污染其他東西。在今年的一項實驗中，該組織在星巴克的杯子里貼上了電子追蹤器，把杯子放入丹佛的可回收垃圾箱，最后在垃圾填埋場里追蹤到了它們。

“There’s no way a consumer would know if a cup was lined,” Mr. Ace said, so it’s best to throw it away. (You can also check if your local recycler has special equipment to handle coffee cups; some do, a Starbucks spokeswoman said. The New York City Department of Sanitation says it accepts “paper cups with non-paper lining.”)

埃斯表示，“消費者不可能知道一個杯子是否有內(nèi)襯”，所以最好把它扔掉(你也可以查一查當(dāng)?shù)氐幕厥展臼欠裼袑ｉT處理咖啡杯的設(shè)備。星巴克的一位發(fā)言人表示，有些地方有。紐約市衛(wèi)生部(The New York City Department of Sanitation)表示，它接受“帶有非紙質(zhì)內(nèi)襯的紙杯”)。

The plastic lid might be recyclable in your area; check the number inside it against your local recycling guidelines.

在你生活的地區(qū)，塑料蓋也許是可回收的。查看杯蓋里的數(shù)字，與當(dāng)?shù)氐幕厥罩改媳日铡?/p>

Greasy pizza boxes 粘有油污的披薩盒

Pizza boxes are among the most common offenders when it comes to contamination, waste managers say. The problem is that oil often seeps into the cardboard. The oil cannot be separated from the fiber, making that material less valuable, and less marketable, to buyers.

垃圾管理公司表示，披薩盒是最常見的污染源。它的問題在于，油常常會滲入硬紙板。這種油無法與纖維分離，導(dǎo)致纖維的價值降低，更難出售。

But that’s not to say you can never recycle a pizza box, said Marjorie Griek, executive director of the National Recycling Coalition, which promotes recycling in the United States. “If you’ve got a few crumbs in there, that’s not an issue,” she said.

倡導(dǎo)垃圾回收的美國全國回收聯(lián)盟(National Recycling Coalition)總干事瑪喬麗·格里克(Marjorie Griek)表示，這并不是說，你絕不能把披薩盒丟入可回收垃圾箱。“如果里面只有一些面包屑，那不是問題，”她說。

Pizza boxes with “small amounts of grease” are O.K. to recycle in New York City, a sanitation department spokeswoman said. If the grease seeps through the cardboard, the box should be put in a composting bin or thrown out, she said.

紐約市衛(wèi)生部的一位發(fā)言人表示，在紐約市，有“少量油脂”的披薩盒是可以回收的。她還表示，如果油脂滲進(jìn)了紙板，那么應(yīng)該放入堆肥垃圾箱，或者直接扔掉。

Remember, there are also two sides to a pizza box. If there’s a side that’s not oily, tear that off and recycle it.

請記住，披薩盒有兩個面。如果有一面沒有油脂，那么你可以把它撕下來回收。

Yogurt cups (and other non-recyclable plastics) 酸奶杯(以及其他不可回收塑料)

After China banned used plastics this year, many municipalities in the United States no longer accept plastics numbered 3 to 7, which can include things like yogurt cups, butter tubs and vegetable oil bottles. Look at the bottom of a container for a number inside a triangle to see what type it is.

在中國今年頒布了塑料廢品禁令后，美國許多市政當(dāng)局便不再接受3至7號塑料，這包括了諸如酸奶杯、黃油盒和植物油包裝瓶一類。你可以查看容器底部寫在三角形內(nèi)的數(shù)字，看看它是哪類塑料。

Without China, there is little market for these types of plastic, said Will Posegate, chief operations officer for Garten Services, which manages waste in parts of Oregon. “It’s expensive to get rid of it right now,” he said.

佳騰服務(wù)公司(Garten Services)首席運營官威爾·波斯蓋特(Will Posegate)說，沒有了中國，這類塑料幾乎沒什么市場。該公司負(fù)責(zé)俄勒岡州部分地區(qū)的廢品處理。“現(xiàn)在再去處理掉是很貴的，”他說。

Should you keep the caps on your bottles? Some waste managers say it’s fine (as long as they are screwed on tight), while others advise throwing them in the trash.

瓶蓋該不該留在瓶子上?一些廢品管理員表示這沒問題(只要扭緊了就行)，但也有人建議把瓶蓋扔進(jìn)垃圾箱。

Check your local recycling website to see which plastic types are still acceptable in your area.

你可以看看當(dāng)?shù)氐幕厥站W(wǎng)站，了解哪類塑料在你所在的地區(qū)仍可回收。

Oily takeout containers 有油污的外賣餐具

Even if a container is labeled correctly for recycling in your area, another contamination culprit is food residue: scraps of pad thai in a plastic tray, or those few drops of bad milk at the bottom of the jug.

即使某個容器在你所在的地區(qū)確實被劃歸為可回收一類，但食物殘留也是一個污染源：剩在塑料盤里的泰式炒面，或者是罐底那幾滴變質(zhì)的牛奶。

Washing out food scraps from recyclables can be just as important as putting the right thing in the recycling bin, said Jackie Lang, a spokeswoman for Waste Management in Oregon. You don’t have to scrub containers until they are sparkling clean — that could waste water. But too many scraps of food and liquid can contaminate a load, which could then be sent to a landfill, Ms. Lang said. As much as possible, “keep food and liquids out,” she said.

俄勒岡州廢物管理局(Waste Management)發(fā)言人杰姬·朗(Jackie Lang)表示，就和往回收箱內(nèi)投入適合的物品一樣，清洗掉可回收物品內(nèi)的食物殘留也同樣重要。你不需要把容器擦洗得閃閃發(fā)亮——這會浪費水。但杰姬·朗說，過多的食物和液體殘留會使一大批廢品都收到污染，這會讓它們被送往填埋場。盡可能“別混進(jìn)食物和液體，”她說。

Plastic bags 塑料袋

If you have a trash chute in your building, or a long walk down to the recycling bin, you might have gotten into the habit of collecting your paper, plastics and glass in used plastic bags, but it’s important to note that the bags themselves should not be put in the recycling cart.

如果你的住房內(nèi)設(shè)有垃圾滑槽，或者要走很久才有回收箱，你可能會養(yǎng)成把廢紙、塑料、玻璃裝在舊塑料袋中的習(xí)慣，但是記住重要的一點，塑料袋本身不應(yīng)該被放入回收車中。

While we might wish that plastic bags — notorious for dissolving into microplastics and killing wildlife — could be sent to processors with our other recycling, they shouldn’t be. They create a nightmare for waste managers by plugging up machinery. So remember to dump your recyclables out of the plastic bag when putting them in the recycling bin. Some areas do offer plastic bag drop-offs, which send these nonrigid plastics to special facilities for recycling. Other cities and states have moved to tax, limit or ban the use of plastic bags altogether.

眾所周知，塑料袋會分解成塑料微粒、殺死野生動物。盡管我們希望這些塑料袋會和我們其他的回收品一起被送往處理廠，但不應(yīng)如此。它們會堵塞機(jī)器，變成廢品管理員的噩夢。所以請記住，在把可回收物品放入回收箱時，不要和塑料袋一起扔進(jìn)去。一些地區(qū)會提供塑料袋回收點，會將這些軟性的塑料送往特殊的工廠進(jìn)行回收。還有一些城市和州已經(jīng)開始對所有塑料袋的使用進(jìn)行收稅、限制或禁止。

Dirty diapers (yes, people do this) 臟尿布(沒錯，有人這么做)

O.K., we’re not accusing you of attempting to recycle used diapers. But people out there are trying. Waste managers around the United States say they turn up at their recycling facilities often.

好吧，我們沒有因為你想回收臟尿布而指責(zé)你，但有人企圖這么做來著。美國各地的廢品管理機(jī)構(gòu)表示，回收設(shè)備里常常會有臟尿布出現(xiàn)。

In some cases, people might think that a diaper should be recyclable because it is mostly made of plastic, said Garry Penning, a spokesman for Rogue Disposal and Recycling, which operates throughout Oregon. But diapers are made of a number of materials, and usually more than one type of plastic. Of course, once they are used, they are also filled with human waste.

業(yè)務(wù)遍布俄勒岡州的羅格處理回收公司(Rogue Disposal and Recycling)的發(fā)言人加里·潘寧(Garry Penning)表示，有些時候，人們可能會認(rèn)為尿布應(yīng)該是可回收的，因為它主要由塑料制成。但構(gòu)成尿布的材料有好幾種，塑料通常也不止一種。當(dāng)然了，一旦被使用，尿布也會沾滿人類排泄物。

In other cases, Mr. Penning said, the recycling bin has simply become “the overflow for the garbage pail.” While there have been some attempts at diaper recycling, for the most part dirty one-use diapers are not considered recyclable and are best put straight in the trash.

潘寧說，有時候回收箱直接就變成了“垃圾桶滿了以后的去處”。盡管有人嘗試對尿布進(jìn)行回收，但在大多數(shù)情況下，一次性尿布是不可回收的，最好把它們直接扔進(jìn)垃圾箱里。

“As a result of China’s waste import restrictions, we need to educate the public how to recycle properly,” said David Biderman, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America. “I think the public can make a significant difference,” he said.

“中國限制垃圾進(jìn)口的結(jié)果就是，我們需要教育公眾如何正確回收垃圾了，”北美固體廢棄物協(xié)會(Solid Waste Association of North America)總干事戴維·比德曼(David Biderman)說。“我認(rèn)為公眾是可以發(fā)揮很大作用的，”他說。