This is the story of three plastic bottles, empty and discarded. Their journeys are about to diverge with outcomes that impact nothing less than the fate of the planet. But they weren't always this way. To understand where these bottles end up, we must first explore their origins.
这是三个空废弃塑料瓶的故事 它们即将分道扬镳,踏上各自的旅程, 而且最终都将影响地球的命运。 但故事不一定总是这样。 想要了解这些瓶子将去向何方, 我们必须先探究它们的来源。
The heroes of our story were conceived in this oil refinery. The plastic in their bodies was formed by chemically bonding oil and gas molecules together to make monomers. In turn, these monomers were bonded into long polymer chains to make plastic in the form of millions of pellets. Those were melted at manufacturing plants and reformed in molds to create the resilient material that makes up the triplets' bodies. Machines filled the bottles with sweet bubbily liquid and they were then wrapped, shipped, bought, opened, consumed and unceremoniously discarded. And now here they lie, poised at the edge of the unknown.
我们故事的主角在炼油厂诞生。 形成它们身体的塑料 是结合起来的油与汽的分子 通过化学反应产生的单体所构成的。 这些单体是由长长的聚合物链组成, 以数百万的小球的形式形成塑料。 这些单体在工厂里被加热融化,通过模具塑型, 制造成弹性材料,用于生产这些塑料瓶。 机器把甜汽水灌入瓶中, 然后瓶子被包装成箱、运送发货、分销卖出、 再由消费者开瓶使用, 最后被丢进垃圾桶。 这就是它们现在的归宿, 在未知世界的边缘蓄势待发。
Bottle one, like hundreds of millions of tons of his plastic brethren, ends up in a landfill. This huge dump expands each day as more trash comes in and continues to take up space. As plastics sit there being compressed amongst layers of other junk, rainwater flows through the waste and absorbs the water-soluble compounds it contains, and some of those are highly toxic. Together, they create a harmful stew called leachate, which can move into groundwater, soil and streams, poisoning ecosystems and harming wildlife. It can take bottle one an agonizing 1,000 years to decompose.
一号瓶子,同它亿万吨的塑料弟兄们一样, 生命终结在垃圾填埋场。 每天都有很多垃圾被丢到这里, 于是这个巨大的垃圾堆就越来越大。 塑料与其他的垃圾一层层累积, 当雨水流经这些垃圾时, 会吸收其中的水溶性化合物, 而某些化合物是剧毒的。 它们聚集在一起,形成有害的“垃圾渗滤液”, 这种“垃圾渗滤液”可以进入地下水、土壤、河流, 毒害生态系统和野生动物。 一号瓶子大概要一千多年才能分解。
Bottle two's journey is stranger but, unfortunately, no happier. He floats on a trickle that reaches a stream, a stream that flows into a river, and a river that reaches the ocean. After months lost at sea, he's slowly drawn into a massive vortex, where trash accumulates, a place known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Here the ocean's currents have trapped millions of pieces of plastic debris. This is one of five plastic-filled gyres in the world's seas. Places where the pollutants turn the water into a cloudy plastic soup. Some animals, like seabirds, get entangled in the mess. They, and others, mistake the brightly colored plastic bits for food. Plastic makes them feel full when they're not, so they starve to death and pass the toxins from the plastic up the food chain. For example, it's eaten by lanternfish, the lanternfish are eaten by squid, the squid are eaten by tuna, and the tuna are eaten by us. And most plastics don't biodegrade, which means they're destined to break down into smaller and smaller pieces called micro plastics, which might rotate in the sea eternally.
二号瓶子的旅途则比较奇特。 但是,这场奇特的旅途并不愉快。 它漂浮在山涧,山涧汇入小溪, 小溪流向小河, 小河流向了海洋, 在漂浮于海洋数月后, 它缓慢卷入了一个巨大的垃圾漩涡, 那个地方叫作“太平洋垃圾带”。 海洋涡流困住了无数垃圾碎片, 这是世界上五大海洋垃圾漩涡之一。 在这些地方,污染物把海水变成了浑浊的塑料汤。 一些动物,比如海鸟,不小心陷入这里无法自救。 还有其他动物,误将鲜艳的塑料当做食物。 于是,即使不吃东西也不会有饥饿感, 然后它们就饿死了, 并把这些来自塑料的有毒物质带入了食物链。 举个例子,那些物质被小灯笼鱼吃了, 灯笼鱼又被乌贼吃了, 乌贼又被金枪鱼吃了, 金枪鱼被我们吃了。 大多数塑料是无法生物降解的, 这也就意味着,它们只会分解成越来越小的碎片, 这种碎片叫做“微塑料”, 它们可能会在海中循环,永远地留在海里。
But bottle three is spared the cruel purgatories of his brothers. A truck brings him to a plant where he and his companions are squeezed flat and compressed into a block. Okay, this sounds pretty bad, too, but hang in there. It gets better. The blocks are shredded into tiny pieces, which are washed and melted, so they become the raw materials that can be used again. As if by magic, bottle three is now ready to be reborn as something completely new.
而三号瓶子却幸免于它兄弟们遭遇的炼狱。 一辆卡车将它带到工厂, 在这里,它和小伙伴们被压平, 之后再被压缩成块。 嗯,这听起来也很糟糕,但是不要着急, 情况会有转机的。 那些压缩块被切成小片, 经过洗涤、熔化, 又变成了可以利用的材料。 奇迹般地,三号瓶子做好了准备, 即将摇身一变,成为某样全新的物品。
For this bit of plastic with such humble origins, suddenly the sky is the limit.
于是,看起来十分普通的塑料, 也能够大放异彩了。