中國(guó)“洋垃圾”禁令給美國(guó)帶來(lái)廢品回收難題

Oregon is serious about recycling. Its residents are accustomed to dutifully separating milk cartons, yogurt containers, cereal boxes and kombucha bottles from their trash to divert them from the landfill. But this year, because of a far-reaching rule change in China, some of the recyclables are ending up in the local dump anyway.

俄勒岡州對(duì)廢品回收是認(rèn)真的。當(dāng)?shù)鼐用褚呀?jīng)習(xí)慣了要將牛奶紙盒、酸奶容器、麥片盒和紅茶菌瓶子從垃圾中分出來(lái)，這樣它們就不會(huì)送到垃圾填埋場(chǎng)。但今年，由于在中國(guó)作出了一個(gè)影響深遠(yuǎn)的規(guī)則變化，一些可回收物最終還是被丟棄在了當(dāng)?shù)氐睦鴪?chǎng)。

In recent months, in fact, thousands of tons of material left curbside for recycling in dozens of American cities and towns — including several in Oregon — have gone to landfills.

事實(shí)上，近幾個(gè)月來(lái)，數(shù)十個(gè)美國(guó)城鎮(zhèn)，包括俄勒岡州的幾個(gè)在內(nèi)，數(shù)以千噸計(jì)留在路邊的回收材料被送到了垃圾填埋場(chǎng)。

In the past, the municipalities would have shipped much of their used paper, plastics and other scrap materials to China for processing. But as part of a broad antipollution campaign, China announced last summer that it no longer wanted to import “foreign garbage.” Since Jan. 1 it has banned imports of various types of plastic and paper, and tightened standards for materials it does accept.

在過(guò)去，地方政府會(huì)把他們用過(guò)的大多數(shù)紙張、塑料和其他廢品運(yùn)到中國(guó)進(jìn)行處理。但作為一場(chǎng)廣泛反污染運(yùn)動(dòng)的一部分，中國(guó)在去年夏天宣布，不再進(jìn)口“洋垃圾”。“自1月1日起，中國(guó)禁止進(jìn)口各類(lèi)塑料和紙張，并提高了那些它接受的材料的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

While some waste managers already send their recyclable materials to be processed domestically, or are shipping more to other countries, others have been unable to find a substitute for the Chinese market. “All of a sudden, material being collected on the street doesn’t have a place to go,” said Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability at Republic Services, one of the largest waste managers in the country.

雖然一些廢品公司已經(jīng)改為在國(guó)內(nèi)處理可回收材料，或者把更多材料運(yùn)往其他的國(guó)家，但也有一些廢品公司一直未能找到中國(guó)的替代市場(chǎng)。美國(guó)最大的廢品管理公司之一共和服務(wù)(Republic Services)負(fù)責(zé)回收和可持續(xù)發(fā)展的副總裁皮特·凱勒(Pete Keller)說(shuō)：“突然間，在街頭收集的廢品沒(méi)有地方可去了。”

China’s stricter requirements also mean that loads of recycling are more likely to be considered contaminated if they contain materials that are not recyclable. That has compounded a problem that waste managers call wishful or aspirational recycling: people setting aside items for recycling because they believe or hope they are recyclable, even when they aren’t.

由于中國(guó)的要求更嚴(yán)格了，這意味著如果廢品中含有不可回收的材料，則更有可能被視為污染物。這令廢品公司稱(chēng)之為一廂情愿或目的型回收的問(wèn)題復(fù)雜化了：人們之所以把物品單獨(dú)放在一邊用來(lái)回收，是因?yàn)樗麄兿嘈呕蛳Ｍ鼈兛梢员换厥赵倮茫词顾鼈儾荒堋?/p>

In the Pacific Northwest, Republic has diverted more than 2,000 tons of paper to landfills since the Chinese ban came into effect, Mr. Keller said. The company has been unable to move that material to a market “at any price or cost,” he said. Though Republic is dumping only a small portion of its total inventory so far — the company handles over five million tons of recyclables nationwide each year — it sent little to no paper to landfills last year.

凱勒說(shuō)，自從中國(guó)的禁令生效以來(lái)，共和服務(wù)在西北太平洋地區(qū)已經(jīng)將2000多噸廢紙轉(zhuǎn)移到了垃圾填埋場(chǎng)。他說(shuō)，公司無(wú)法“以任何價(jià)格或成本”將這些材料轉(zhuǎn)移到別的市場(chǎng)。雖然共和服務(wù)到目前為止只傾棄了其總庫(kù)存的一小部分——該公司每年在全美國(guó)處理500多萬(wàn)噸可再生材料——但它去年很少，甚至根本沒(méi)有將廢紙送到垃圾填埋場(chǎng)。

But for smaller companies, like Rogue Disposal and Recycling, which serves much of Oregon, the Chinese ban has upended operations. Rogue sent all its recycling to landfills for the first few months of the year, said Garry Penning, a spokesman.

但對(duì)于小公司，比如為俄勒岡州大部分地區(qū)提供服務(wù)的羅格處理回收(Rogue Disposal and Recycling)而言，中國(guó)的禁令已經(jīng)令業(yè)務(wù)傾覆。這家公司的發(fā)言人加里·潘寧(Garry Penning)表示，今年的頭幾個(gè)月，它把所有可回收物都送到了垃圾填埋場(chǎng)。

Western states, which have relied the most on Chinese recycling plants, have been hit especially hard. In some areas — like Eugene, Ore., and parts of Idaho, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii — local officials and garbage haulers will no longer accept certain items for recycling, in some cases refusing most plastics, glass and certain types of paper. Instead, they say, customers should throw these items in the trash.

最依賴(lài)中國(guó)回收廠(chǎng)的西部州受到的打擊尤為嚴(yán)重。在一些地區(qū)，比如俄勒岡的尤金、愛(ài)達(dá)荷部分地區(qū)、華盛頓、阿拉斯加和夏威夷，當(dāng)?shù)毓賳T和垃圾運(yùn)輸車(chē)將不再接受某些回收物，在某些情況下拒絕接受大多數(shù)塑料、玻璃和某些類(lèi)型的廢紙。相反，他們說(shuō)，消費(fèi)者應(yīng)該把這些東西扔進(jìn)垃圾桶。

Theresa Byrne, who lives in Salem, Ore., said the city took too long to inform residents that most plastics and egg and milk cartons were now considered garbage. “I was angry,” she said. “I believe in recycling.”

住在俄勒岡薩利姆的特雷莎·伯恩(Theresa Byrne)表示，該市拖了太久才通知居民，大多數(shù)塑料制品、雞蛋和牛奶盒現(xiàn)在都被視為垃圾。“我很生氣，”她說(shuō)。“我相信回收的理念。”

Other communities, like Grants Pass, Ore., home to about 37,000 people, are continuing to encourage their residents to recycle as usual, but the materials are winding up in landfills anyway. Local waste managers said they were concerned that if they told residents to stop recycling, it could be hard to get them to start again.

其他社區(qū)，比如約3.7萬(wàn)人的俄勒岡格蘭茨帕斯，則繼續(xù)鼓勵(lì)居民像往常一樣回收，但這些材料仍會(huì)被堆到填埋場(chǎng)。當(dāng)?shù)氐膹U品公司表示，他們擔(dān)心，如果讓居民停止回收，以后可能很難讓他們?cè)僦匦麻_(kāi)始。

The fallout has spread beyond the West Coast. Ben Harvey, the president of E.L. Harvey & Sons, a recycling company based in Westborough, Mass., said that he had around 6,000 tons of paper and cardboard piling up, when he would normally have a couple hundred tons stockpiled. The bales are filling almost half of his 80,000-square-foot facility.

這個(gè)附帶效應(yīng)已擴(kuò)散到西海岸以外。本·哈維(Ben Harvey)是總部位于馬薩諸塞州韋斯特堡的(E.L. Harvey & Sons)回收公司的總裁，他說(shuō)他的公司通常有幾百?lài)嵉膸?kù)存，現(xiàn)在堆積了大約6000噸的廢紙和紙板。在他約7400平方米的場(chǎng)地中，幾乎有一半的空間里已經(jīng)被廢品包填滿(mǎn)。

“It’s really impacted our day-to-day operations,” Mr. Harvey said. “It’s stifling me.”

“這確實(shí)影響了我們的日常運(yùn)營(yíng)，”哈維說(shuō)。“真讓我透不過(guò)氣來(lái)。”

Recyclers in Canada, Australia, Britain, Germany and other parts of Europe have also scrambled to find alternatives.

加拿大、澳大利亞、英國(guó)、德國(guó)和歐洲其他地區(qū)的回收商也在匆忙尋找替代。

Still, across much of the United States, including most major cities, recycling is continuing as usual. Countries like India, Vietnam and Indonesia are importing more of the materials that are not processed domestically. And some waste companies have responded to China’s ban by stockpiling material while looking for new processors, or hoping that China reconsiders its policy.

盡管如此，在美國(guó)許多地區(qū)，包括大部分重要城市，回收仍在照常進(jìn)行。印度、越南和印度尼西亞等國(guó)正在進(jìn)口更多并非本國(guó)加工的材料。一些垃圾公司已經(jīng)通過(guò)儲(chǔ)備材料來(lái)應(yīng)對(duì)中國(guó)的禁令，同時(shí)尋找新的加工商，或指望中國(guó)重新考慮其政策。

Americans recycle roughly 66 million tons of material each year, according to the most recent figures from the Environmental Protection Agency, about one-third of which is exported. The majority of those exports once went to China, said David Biderman, the executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, a research and advocacy group.

據(jù)環(huán)境保護(hù)局(Environmental Protection Agency)最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，美國(guó)人每年回收約6600萬(wàn)噸材料，其中約三分之一出口。研究和倡導(dǎo)組織北美固體廢棄物協(xié)會(huì)(Solid Waste Association of North America)總干事戴維·比德曼(David Biderman)說(shuō)，過(guò)去這些出口大部分運(yùn)往中國(guó)。

But American scrap exports to China fell by about 35 percent in the first two months of this year, after the ban was implemented, said Joseph Pickard, chief economist for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, a trade group.

貿(mào)易組織美國(guó)廢料回收行業(yè)協(xié)會(huì)(Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries)首席經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家約瑟夫·皮卡德(Joseph Pickard)說(shuō)，今年頭兩個(gè)月，美國(guó)對(duì)中國(guó)的廢鋼出口下降了約35%，這是禁令實(shí)施后的結(jié)果。

“It’s a huge concern, because China has just been such a dominant overseas market for us,” Mr. Pickard said.

“這是一個(gè)非常令人擔(dān)憂(yōu)的問(wèn)題，因?yàn)橹袊?guó)對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)首要的海外市場(chǎng)，”皮卡德說(shuō)。

In particular, exports of scrap plastic to China, valued at more than $300 million in 2015, totaled just $7.6 million in the first quarter of this year, down 90 percent from a year earlier, Mr. Pickard said. Other countries have stepped in to accept more plastics, but total scrap plastic exports are still down by 40 percent this year, he said.

皮卡德說(shuō)，尤其是2015年第一季度對(duì)中國(guó)出口額超過(guò)3億美元的廢塑料，今年第一季度僅為760萬(wàn)美元，同比下降90%。他表示，其他國(guó)家已經(jīng)加入進(jìn)來(lái)，開(kāi)始接收更多塑料，但今年廢塑料出口總量仍下降了40%。

“There is a significant disruption occurring to U.S. recycling programs,” Mr. Biderman said. “The concern is if this is the new normal.” “美國(guó)的回收計(jì)劃出現(xiàn)了嚴(yán)重動(dòng)蕩，”比德曼說(shuō)。“我們擔(dān)心這會(huì)不會(huì)是新的常態(tài)。”

Curbside recycling is typically hauled by a private company to a sorting plant, where marketable goods are separated out. Companies or local governments then sell the goods to domestic or overseas processors. Some states and cities prohibit these companies from dumping plastic, paper and cardboard, but some local officials — including in Oregon, Massachusetts and various municipalities in Washington State — have granted waivers so that unmarketable materials can be sent to the landfill.

路邊回收通常由私人公司運(yùn)往分揀工廠(chǎng)，在那里，可銷(xiāo)售的商品被分離出來(lái)。然后公司或地方政府將貨物出售給國(guó)內(nèi)或海外加工商。一些州和城市禁止這些公司丟棄塑料、紙張和紙板，但一些當(dāng)?shù)毓賳T(包括俄勒岡州、馬薩諸塞州，以及華盛頓州的一些城市)已批準(zhǔn)豁免，可將無(wú)法出售的材料送到垃圾填埋場(chǎng)。

Recycling companies “used to get paid” by selling off recyclable materials, said Peter Spendelow, a policy analyst for the Department of Environmental Quality in Oregon. “Now they’re paying to have someone take it away.”

回收公司出售可循環(huán)利用的材料“在過(guò)去會(huì)得到報(bào)酬，”俄勒岡州環(huán)境質(zhì)量部(Department of Environmental Quality)政策分析員彼得·斯潘德羅(Peter Spendelow)說(shuō)。“現(xiàn)在他們付錢(qián)讓別人拿走。”

In some places, including parts of Idaho, Maine and Pennsylvania, waste managers are continuing to recycle but are passing higher costs on to customers, or are considering doing so.

在一些地方，包括艾奧瓦州、緬因州和賓夕法尼亞州的部分地區(qū)，廢物管理者正在繼續(xù)回收利用，但將提高的成本轉(zhuǎn)嫁給客戶(hù)，或者正在考慮這樣做。

While China has entirely banned 24 materials, including post-consumer plastic and mixed paper, it has also demanded that other materials, such as cardboard and scrap metal, be only 0.5 percent impure. Even a small amount of food scraps or other rubbish, if undetected, can ruin a batch of recycling.

中國(guó)完全禁止了包括消費(fèi)后塑料和混合紙?jiān)趦?nèi)的24種材料，同時(shí)它還要求其他材料(如紙板和廢金屬)雜質(zhì)在0.5%以?xún)?nèi)。若是有少量的食物殘?jiān)蚱渌幢话l(fā)現(xiàn)，可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致一整批回收物遭殃。

Some waste managers say that China’s new contamination standards are impossible to meet, while others are trying to clean up their recycling streams by slowing down their processing facilities, limiting the types of materials they accept or trying to better educate customers on what belongs in the recycling bin.

一些垃圾管理者說(shuō)，中國(guó)污染新標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是不可能達(dá)到的，其他一些企業(yè)則試圖通過(guò)采取措施清理回收物流，包括放慢加工設(shè)施運(yùn)行，限制接受的材料類(lèi)型，以及嘗試更好地教育客戶(hù)垃圾桶中什么樣的物品可以回收。

Mr. Bell, the Waste Management executive, said he had seen everything from Christmas lights to animal carcasses to artillery shells come through the company’s recycling facilities. “Most of our facilities get a bowling ball every day or two,” he said.

廢物管理公司主管貝爾說(shuō)，他在公司的回收設(shè)施里見(jiàn)過(guò)各種各樣的東西，從圣誕燈、動(dòng)物尸體到炮彈。“我們大部分設(shè)施里每隔一兩天就會(huì)看到一個(gè)保齡球，”他說(shuō)。

Some materials can ruin a load, he said, while others pose fire or health hazards and can force facilities to slow their operations and in some cases temporarily shut down. (And a bowling ball could do serious damage to the equipment.) Approximately 25 percent of all recycling picked up by Waste Management is contaminated to the point that it is sent to landfills, Mr. Bell said.

他說(shuō)，有些材料可能會(huì)毀掉一批物品，還有一些則會(huì)造成火災(zāi)或健康危害，并可能迫使設(shè)施放慢運(yùn)行速度，在某些情況下還會(huì)導(dǎo)致暫時(shí)關(guān)閉。(保齡球可能會(huì)嚴(yán)重?fù)p壞設(shè)備。)貝爾說(shuō)，廢物管理公司回收的大約25%的垃圾是被污染的，到了應(yīng)當(dāng)被送到垃圾填埋場(chǎng)的地步。

Recyclers have always disposed of some of their materials. But the percentage has climbed as China and other buyers of recyclable material have ratcheted up quality standards.

回收商一直在自行處置他們的一些材料。但隨著中國(guó)和其他可回收材料的買(mǎi)家收緊質(zhì)量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，自行處置的比例在上升。

Most contamination, Mr. Bell said, happens when people try to recycle materials they shouldn’t. Disposable coffee cups — which are usually lined with a thin film that makes them liquid-proof but challenging and expensive to reprocess — are an example. Unwashed plastics can also cause contamination.

貝爾說(shuō)，大多數(shù)污染是在人們回收不應(yīng)該回收的材料時(shí)發(fā)生的。比如一次性咖啡杯通常襯著防水薄膜，會(huì)導(dǎo)致再加工變得困難而且昂貴。未清洗的塑料也會(huì)造成污染。

“If we don’t get it clean, we’re not going to be able to market it, and if we can’t market it unfortunately it’s going to go to the landfill,” said Mr. Penning, the Rogue spokesman. In March, Rogue told customers to put everything in the trash except for corrugated cardboard, milk jugs, newspapers and tin and aluminum cans, which the company is finding domestic markets for, Mr. Penning said.

“如果我們沒(méi)有把它們清理干凈，就無(wú)法推向市場(chǎng)，如果我們不能將其推向市場(chǎng)，不幸的是，它們就會(huì)進(jìn)入垃圾填埋場(chǎng)，”羅格公司發(fā)言人潘寧說(shuō)。他說(shuō)公司在3月告訴客戶(hù)，除了正在尋找國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)的瓦楞紙板、牛奶罐，報(bào)紙、錫罐以及鋁罐，其他物品都要放在垃圾桶里。

Rogue customers who make mistakes might see an “Oops” sticker the next time they check their recycling bin, he said.

他說(shuō)，弄錯(cuò)的羅格客戶(hù)下一次打開(kāi)回收箱時(shí)可能會(huì)看到一張寫(xiě)著“Oops”(哎喲)的貼紙。