America has a recycling problem — and China is making it worse

For decades, people have touted the benefits of recycling put stuff in a bin, everybody wins.
數十年來，人民到處宣傳資源回收的好處；將垃圾放進垃圾桶對大家都好。

But for hundreds of countries, what recycling actually meant, was exporting it to another country.
但對上百個國家來說，資源回收其實就是將垃圾運送到其他國家。

And most of the time and went to China.
大多數的時候都運到了中國。

Now, because the new regulations from the Chinese government, the process has gotten even more complicated.
現在由於中國政府的新法規，回收過程變得更加複雜。

And the waste is starting to pile up.
垃圾也開始堆積如山。

In the US for the last 25 years, we've exported around a third of our recycling, mostly single use plastics.
美國過去25年來將大約31%的回收運出，大多數都是一次性使用的塑膠。

And if we can't send our recycling abroad will need to find a new home for it.
如果我們不能再將回收輸出的話，就需要替它們找尋新地點。

I guess there's this thought that it goes in the back of a truck and goes into a factory and new stuff rolls out the other side of that factory.
不經讓人思考將回收堆放回卡車後方，進而來到工廠並在另一端產出新的物品。

Of course, that's not really what happens.
當然，這只是紙上談兵。

Recycling is collected, separated from trash, sorted by type at a Material Recovery Facility and then sold to recycling plants here or abroad, like in China, where it's processed, and that recycled byproduct has been sold to manufacturers at a lower grade.
首先將資源回收收齊後，排除垃圾並由物料回收設施將其分類然後外銷去國外，如中國，接手處理後所產出的副產品將會以低價賤賣給製造商。

Here's what changed.
以下是改變的點。

China's accepting fewer types of recyclables and clamping down on contaminated materials.
中國願意接納的回收種類減少並嚴禁受汙染的物料。

This means, leftover coffee at the bottom of a cup could turn a perfectly good recyclable newspaper into trash.
意味著一杯剩餘的咖啡量，有機會將可回收的報紙變成垃圾。

They've literally increased the quality standard by a factor of five, the seed of this whole issue with China has been them just trying to clean up their own environment.
他們著實地以5倍因子來提高質量標準，這個問題的根源其實就是中國試圖清理自家環境。

And remember, recycling at the end of the day is a commodity, just like soybeans or orange juice, they just want a cleaner product to come to them.
切記，其實資源回收到頭來就好比一個商品，如同黃豆跟柳橙汁，他們渴望追求更環保的商品。

That's forcing some local recycling centers to discourage lower grade plastics and to rethink the way scrap is collected and sorted.
這也間接讓某些回收中心開始拒收低級塑料，並反思廢料的回收過程。

So how that affects us is that, the industry rather, has to take its time now to much more carefully sort through the recyclables to make sure they're clean.
影響到我們的部分就是，此後產業需要花費更多心思在整理可回收物上，以確保它們是乾淨的。

And that costs money.
這都需要花錢。

The effects of this policy ripple down the chain.
這個政策的影響力在整個產業掀起漣漪。

And the cost of sorting and cleaning waste is getting passed down to the local level.
整理及清潔廢料的花費逐漸地被傳至地方一級。

Here's the thing, before these initiatives from China to place, what was in your bin was actually worth money and all the things that people put in the recycling bin that wasn't recyclable.
在中國實行新措施前，垃圾桶裡的廢物和那些不可回收的物品事實上是有價值的。

There was no concerns because the good stuff in the bin was worth a lot more money than the cost of processing and getting rid of the residues.
人民不必擔心，因為垃圾桶裡的東西比回收及丟棄殘留物的花費更加值錢。

It's gone from being something that made the county several hundred thousand dollars a year.
曾經每年可以為縣市帶來數十萬美元的營收。

It has gradually declined to the point now where the where the county is going to be spending several hundred thousand dollars a year.
收入逐漸地降低到縣市需要額外支出數十萬元。

The waste isn't going anywhere.
廢棄物依舊存在我們生活周遭。

The recycling industry will have to adapt to these changes, and many households, might need to think harder about what they're putting in their recycling bins.
回收產業將會去適應這些轉變，且多戶人家也會開始三思自己丟進垃圾桶的物品。

Let's just try and do what we've always done, but do it the way we probably should have been doing it anyway.
讓我們試著維持以前的方式，但是更加徹底。

Just clean things up a little bit, put things where they're supposed to go.
稍微清洗一下物品並將它們丟到正確的地方。

We've just got to clean up our act.
我們需要開始遵紀守法。

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