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.
這是三個塑膠瓶的故事 空的、被丟棄的塑膠瓶 他們的旅程即將要分道揚鑣 有著影響到地球存亡的後果 不過他們並非皆為如此的 要瞭解這些瓶子最終到了哪裡去 我們一定要先來探究其出處
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.
故事中的主角們孕育於這個煉油廠 他們體內的塑膠 是由化學鍵 將油及氣體分子結合在一起 而產生的單體形成 單體一個接一個鍵結成長鏈聚合物 形成千上萬顆的塑膠粒 塑膠粒在製造工廠熔化 並在模型中重塑 製造出三胞胎身體中的彈性材料 機器再將這三個瓶子 裝滿了甜性氣泡飲料 他們被包裝、運送 購買、打開跟喝掉了 之後就被隨意扔棄 現在他們躺在這裡 靜靜地待在不為人知的角落
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.
一號瓶就像他好幾億噸的 塑膠類哥兒們一樣 在垃圾掩埋場終了一生 當每天有更多垃圾倒進來不斷佔去空間 這一大堆傾倒物也跟著變大 當塑膠品靜置在數層的 廢棄物中被擠壓 雨水流過廢棄物 吸附其中所含的水溶性化合物 有些是含有劇毒的 湊在一起就會產生稱為 「垃圾滲出水」的有害湯汁 其能滲入地下水、土壤和河流中 毒害生態系統、危害野生動物 一號瓶要花上痛苦的一千年才能分解
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.
二號瓶的旅程比較奇特些 不過可惜的是並沒有比較開心 他在涓流上漂著進入小溪 小溪再匯成大河 大河流入海洋 在大海中不知去向的幾個月後 他緩緩移近於一個積聚垃圾的大渦流 一個被稱為「太平洋垃圾帶」的地方 在這裡洋流將數不清的 塑膠碎片困在其中 這是世界大海中布滿 塑膠垃圾的五大環流之一 汙染物在這些地方 將水變成混濁的塑膠湯 有些動物像是海鳥 會被這一堆雜物給纏住 牠們和其他的動物誤以為 這些鮮豔的塑膠粒是食物 塑膠讓牠們以為吃飽了 事實卻非如此 所以牠們餓死 並將塑膠的毒素 順著食物鏈向上傳 舉個例,塑膠被燈籠魚吃下肚 燈籠魚再被烏賊吃下肚 烏賊又被鮪魚吃了 然後鮪魚又成了我們的食物 塑膠大多無法生物分解 也就是說它們註定要碎裂成 越來越小片的「塑膠微粒」 在海洋上恆久打轉
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.
三號瓶子卻逃過了 他兄弟們經歷的殘酷煉獄 卡車把他帶到了工廠 在那裡他跟同伴們被壓平以及擠壓成塊 是的,這聽起來也很糟 但是再撐一下 情況即將好轉 塑膠塊被切成薄片 經過清洗和熔解 又變成可再次利用的原物料 好像下了魔法 三號瓶已經準備好 再生成全新的東西
For this bit of plastic with such humble origins, suddenly the sky is the limit.
對這小片出身卑微的塑膠而言 突然間前景無量啊!