By Sara
為了不讓垃圾影響環(huán)境,讓更多的人參與到垃圾回收活動中,美國政府煞費苦心。
“The time has come when man can no longer continue using the land,sea and air as his ‘trash basket’,” a New York Times article said in 1966.“He must find ways to cycle his wastes,both solid and liquid,back into the economy.”
It was one of our first front-page articles to address the urgent need to deal with household waste.
The report was based on a National Academy of Sciences study sent to Lyndon B.Johnson’s White House.It came as cheap,plastic goods were entering the daily lives of Americans and leaving as garbage.
We have come a long way.Today is the 20thAmerica Recycles Day,a nonprofit initiative.
Last year,1.9 million Americans participated,organizers said,and more than 61 million pounds of recyclables were collected.
But there’s much work still to be done.A third of U.S.household waste still ends up in landfills.
Sweden could show the way.In 1975,its recycling rate was about on par with America’s now,but last year,only 0.7 percent of its waste ended up in landfills.Sweden even imports waste to use as a source of energy.
“時候到了,人類不能再繼續(xù)把土地、大海和空氣當成他的‘垃圾籃’,”1966年,《紐約時報》上的一篇文章寫道?!八仨氄业睫k法來回收他的固體和液體廢棄品,讓它們回到經(jīng)濟中。”
這是我們的頭版最早談?wù)撎幚砑彝U品迫切需求的文章之一。
這篇報道是基于國家科學(xué)院寄給林登·B.約翰遜政府的一份研究報告寫成的。當時,越來越多廉價的塑料制品正在進入美國人的日常生活,最后成為垃圾。
我們走了一條很長的路。今天是美國資源回收日的20周年紀念日,這是一個非盈利的企劃。
組織者稱,去年有190萬美國人參與了這個活動,一共收集了6,100萬磅(約合2.8噸)的可回收物。
但需要做的事情還有很多。美國家庭制造的垃圾中三分之一最后仍然送到了垃圾填埋場。
瑞典做出了示范。1975年,該國的回收率大約和今日的美國相當,但到去年,其廢品總量中僅0.7%最后留在了垃圾填埋場。瑞典甚至還進口廢品,將它們用作能源。