可口可乐、百事可乐等饮料制造垃圾产量世界第一！

中等

初中三年级

说明文

世界与环境

全球塑料污染严重，可口可乐、百事可乐等四家公司贡献超过20%的品牌污染。他们承诺采取措施减少塑料使用，但塑料垃圾问题仍待解决。

A new study on plastic waste has named Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Danone as the biggest sources of plastic pollution in the world. An environmental group called Break Free From Plastic did the study. They looked at 84 countries to see where the plastic rubbish came from.

一项关于塑料垃圾的新研究将可口可乐、百事可乐、雀巢和达能列为世界上最大的塑料污染源。一个名为“摆脱塑缚”的环保组织进行了这项研究。他们调查了84个国家的塑料垃圾来源。

Between 2018 and 2022, more than 100,000 volunteers collected plastic waste from beaches, parks, rivers, and other sites. They gathered more than 1.8 million pieces of plastic rubbish. Much of the waste was single-use food and drink containers (容器). In other words, cups, glasses and containers are only used once and then thrown away in the garbage.

2018年至2022年间，超过10万名志愿者从海滩、公园、河流和其他地点收集塑料垃圾。他们收集了180多万块塑料垃圾。大部分垃圾都是一次性食品和饮料容器。换言之，杯子、玻璃杯和容器只使用一次，然后被扔进垃圾桶。

Then researchers examined every piece, looking for logos and information that would identify what companies had created or sold the plastic items. They were able to identify brands for 910,000 pieces of plastic — about half of all the waste they collected. More than 100,000 of those pieces (11 percent) came from Coca-Cola products. PepsiCo was responsible for more than 45,000 pieces (5 percent), and Nestlé and Danone were each responsible for more than 27,000 pieces. Altogether, 56 companies were found to be responsible for the plastic waste that could be identified.

然后，研究人员检查了每一件塑料制品，寻找标识和信息，以确定哪些公司制造或销售了这些塑料制品。他们能够识别91万块塑料的品牌，大约占他们收集的所有垃圾的一半。其中超过10万件来自可口可乐公司的产品。百事公司负责45000多件，雀巢和达能各负责27000多件。总共有56家公司被认定对可识别的塑料垃圾负有责任。

▲ Animals, birds and fish can eat or become tangled (缠绕) in pieces of thrown-away plastic. Microplastics (微型塑料) might enter our body through food and water. Plastic also makes global warming worse, because fossil fuels have been used to make plastics. More than 400 million metric tons of plastic are produced every year. Half of that will end up as rubbish in less than a year.

▲ 动物、鸟类和鱼类可能会进食或被丢弃的塑料碎片缠住。微塑料可能通过食物和水进入我们的身体。塑料也使全球变暖更加严重，因为化石燃料被用来制造塑料。每年生产的塑料超过4亿吨。其中一半将在不到一年的时间里变成垃圾。

In late April, members of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee — a special United Nations committee on the environment — met in Ottawa to discuss ways to end plastic pollution.