6种“一厢情愿式回收”
We have all done it: a greasy pizza box, a disposable coffee cup, the odd Plastic bag. Sometimes, we want things to be recyclable, so we put them in the recycling bin.
这种事我们都干过：沾满油污的披萨盒，一次性咖啡杯，多余的塑料袋。有时，我们希望这些东西能回收，于是把它们丢进了可回收垃圾箱。Waste managers often call this wishful or aspirational recycling. But, unfortunately, putting these objects in with the rest of the recycling can do more harm than good. While rules differ in every municipality (check your local recycling website to find out what’s acceptable), we have picked out some key offenders to keep in mind.
垃圾管理公司经常把这种行为称为一厢情愿或热切盼望式回收。但是，不幸的是，把这些东西与其他可回收物放在一起弊大于利。虽然每个城市的规定各不相同（查看当地的垃圾回收网站，弄清哪些是可接受的），我们挑选了一些主要祸害，让大家记住。Too many of these items will contaminate a batch of recycling. That means waste managers might not be able to find buyers for the materials — especially now that China, one of the world’s main importers of recyclable waste, has said it will reject shipments that are more than 0.5 percent impure. Contaminated loads could be sent to the landfill instead.
如果这种东西太多，会污染一批可回收物。那意味着，垃圾管理公司可能无法为这些材料找到买家，尤其是考虑到，主要的可回收垃圾进口国中国已表示，将拒绝接收不纯率在0.5%以上的垃圾。受到污染的可回收物可能会被送到垃圾填埋场。
Disposable cups
一次性杯子Your disposable coffee cup might seem like it can be recycled, but most single-use cups are lined with a fine film of polyethylene, which makes the cups liquid-proof but also difficult and expensive to reprocess (because the materials have to be separated). Most waste management facilities will treat the cups as trash.
一次性咖啡杯看似可以回收利用，但大多数一次性杯子的内壁都有一层聚乙烯薄膜，那是为了让杯子防水，但对这层薄膜进行再加工十分困难，而且代价不菲（因为必须剥离这种材料）。大多数垃圾管理机构把这种杯子当作垃圾处理。If you’re putting these cups in with your recycling, they are likely contaminating the rest of the materials, said Jim Ace, a senior campaigner at h, an environmental group. In an experiment this year, the group affixed electronic trackers inside Starbucks cups, put the cups in recycling bins in Denver, then traced them to a landfill.
环保组织h资深项目主任吉姆·埃斯(Jim Ace)表示，如果你把这些杯子和其他回收物放在一起，那么它们很有可能会污染其他东西。在今年的一项实验中，该组织在星巴克的杯子里贴上了电子追踪器，把杯子放入丹佛的可回收垃圾箱，最后在垃圾填埋场里追踪到了它们。“There’s no way a consumer would know if a cup was lined,” Mr. Ace said, so it’s best to throw it away. (You can also check if your local recycler has special equipment to handle coffee cups; some do, a Starbucks spokeswoman said. The New York City Department of Sanitation says it accepts “paper cups with non-paper lining.”)
埃斯表示，“消费者不可能知道一个杯子是否有内衬”，所以最好把它扔掉（你也可以查一查当地的回收公司是否有专门处理咖啡杯的设备。星巴克的一位发言人表示，有些地方有。纽约市卫生部(The New York City Department of Sanitation)表示，它接受“带有非纸质内衬的纸杯”）。The plastic lid might be recyclable in your area; check the number inside it against your local recycling guidelines.
在你生活的地区，塑料盖也许是可回收的。查看杯盖里的数字，与当地的回收指南比照。Greasy pizza boxes
粘有油污的披萨盒Pizza boxes are among the most common offenders when it comes to contamination, waste managers say. The problem is that oil often seeps into the cardboard. The oil cannot be separated from the fiber, making that material less valuable, and less marketable, to buyers.
垃圾管理公司表示，披萨盒是最常见的污染源。它的问题在于，油常常会渗入硬纸板。这种油无法与纤维分离，导致纤维的价值降低，更难出售。But that’s not to say you can never recycle a pizza box, said Marjorie Griek, executive director of the National Recycling Coalition, which promotes recycling in the United States. “If you’ve got a few crumbs in there, that’s not an issue,” she said.
倡导垃圾回收的美国全国回收联盟(National Recycling Coalition)总干事玛乔丽·格里克(Marjorie Griek)表示，这并不是说，你绝不能把披萨盒丢入可回收垃圾箱。“如果里面只有一些面包屑，那不是问题，”她说。Pizza boxes with “small amounts of grease” are O.K. to recycle in New York City, a sanitation department spokeswoman said. If the grease seeps through the cardboard, the box should be put in a composting bin or thrown out, she said.
纽约市卫生部的一位发言人表示，在纽约市，有“少量油脂”的披萨盒是可以回收的。她还表示，如果油脂渗进了纸板，那么应该放入堆肥垃圾箱，或者直接扔掉。Remember, there are also two sides to a pizza box. If there’s a side that’s not oily, tear that off and recycle it.
请记住，披萨盒有两个面。如果有一面没有油脂，那么你可以把它撕下来回收。Yogurt cups (and other non-recyclable plastics)
酸奶杯（以及其他不可回收塑料）After China banned used plastics this year, many municipalities in the United States no longer accept plastics numbered 3 to 7, which can include things like yogurt cups, butter tubs and vegetable oil bottles. Look at the bottom of a container for a number inside a triangle to see what type it is.
在中国今年颁布了塑料废品禁令后，美国许多市政当局便不再接受3至7号塑料，这包括了诸如酸奶杯、黄油盒和植物油包装瓶一类。你可以查看容器底部写在三角形内的数字，看看它是哪类塑料。Without China, there is little market for these types of plastic, said Will Posegate, chief operations officer for Garten Services, which manages waste in parts of Oregon. “It’s expensive to get rid of it right now,” he said.
佳腾服务公司(Garten Services)首席运营官威尔·波斯盖特(Will Posegate)说，没有了中国，这类塑料几乎没什么市场。该公司负责俄勒冈州部分地区的废品处理。“现在再去处理掉是很贵的，”他说。Should you keep the caps on your bottles? Some waste managers say it’s fine (as long as they are screwed on tight), while others advise throwing them in the trash.
瓶盖该不该留在瓶子上？一些废品管理员表示这没问题（只要扭紧了就行），但也有人建议把瓶盖扔进垃圾箱。Check your local recycling website to see which plastic types are still acceptable in your area.
你可以看看当地的回收网站，了解哪类塑料在你所在的地区仍可回收。Oily takeout containers
有油污的外卖餐具Even if a container is labeled correctly for recycling in your area, another contamination culprit is food residue: scraps of pad thai in a plastic tray, or those few drops of bad milk at the bottom of the jug.
即使某个容器在你所在的地区确实被划归为可回收一类，但食物残留也是一个污染源：剩在塑料盘里的泰式炒面，或者是罐底那几滴变质的牛奶。Washing out food scraps from recyclables can be just as important as putting the right thing in the recycling bin, said Jackie Lang, a spokeswoman for Waste Management in Oregon. You don’t have to scrub containers until they are sparkling clean — that could waste water. But too many scraps of food and liquid can contaminate a load, which could then be sent to a landfill, Ms. Lang said. As much as possible, “keep food and liquids out,” she said.
俄勒冈州废物管理局(Waste Management)发言人杰姬·朗(Jackie Lang)表示，就和往回收箱内投入适合的物品一样，清洗掉可回收物品内的食物残留也同样重要。你不需要把容器擦洗得闪闪发亮——这会浪费水。但杰姬·朗说，过多的食物和液体残留会使一大批废品都收到污染，这会让它们被送往填埋场。尽可能“别混进食物和液体，”她说。Plastic bags
塑料袋If you have a trash chute in your building, or a long walk down to the recycling bin, you might have gotten into the habit of collecting your paper, plastics and glass in used plastic bags, but it’s important to note that the bags themselves should not be put in the recycling cart.
如果你的住房内设有垃圾滑槽，或者要走很久才有回收箱，你可能会养成把废纸、塑料、玻璃装在旧塑料袋中的习惯，但是记住重要的一点，塑料袋本身不应该被放入回收车中。While we might wish that plastic bags — notorious for dissolving into microplastics and killing wildlife — could be sent to processors with our other recycling, they shouldn’t be. They create a nightmare for waste managers by plugging up machinery. So remember to dump your recyclables out of the plastic bag when putting them in the recycling bin. Some areas do offer plastic bag drop-offs, which send these nonrigid plastics to special facilities for recycling. Other cities and states have moved to tax, limit or ban the use of plastic bags altogether.
众所周知，塑料袋会分解成塑料微粒、杀死野生动物。尽管我们希望这些塑料袋会和我们其他的回收品一起被送往处理厂，但不应如此。它们会堵塞机器，变成废品管理员的噩梦。所以请记住，在把可回收物品放入回收箱时，不要和塑料袋一起扔进去。一些地区会提供塑料袋回收点，会将这些软性的塑料送往特殊的工厂进行回收。还有一些城市和州已经开始对所有塑料袋的使用进行收税、限制或禁止。Dirty diapers (yes, people do this)
脏尿布（没错，有人这么做）O.K., we’re not accusing you of attempting to recycle used diapers. But people out there are trying. Waste managers around the United States say they turn up at their recycling facilities often.
好吧，我们没有因为你想回收脏尿布而指责你，但有人企图这么做来着。美国各地的废品管理机构表示，回收设备里常常会有脏尿布出现。In some cases, people might think that a diaper should be recyclable because it is mostly made of plastic, said Garry Penning, a spokesman for Rogue Disposal and Recycling, which operates throughout Oregon. But diapers are made of a number of materials, and usually more than one type of plastic. Of course, once they are used, they are also filled with human waste.
业务遍布俄勒冈州的罗格处理回收公司(Rogue Disposal and Recycling)的发言人加里·潘宁(Garry Penning)表示，有些时候，人们可能会认为尿布应该是可回收的，因为它主要由塑料制成。但构成尿布的材料有好几种，塑料通常也不止一种。当然了，一旦被使用，尿布也会沾满人类排泄物。
In other cases, Mr. Penning said, the recycling bin has simply become “the overflow for the garbage pail.” While there have been some attempts at diaper recycling, for the most part dirty one-use diapers are not considered recyclable and are best put straight in the trash.
潘宁说，有时候回收箱直接就变成了“垃圾桶满了以后的去处”。尽管有人尝试对尿布进行回收，但在大多数情况下，一次性尿布是不可回收的，最好把它们直接扔进垃圾箱里。“As a result of China’s waste import restrictions, we need to educate the public how to recycle properly,” said David Biderman, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America. “I think the public can make a significant difference,” he said.
“中国限制垃圾进口的结果就是，我们需要教育公众如何正确回收垃圾了，”北美固体废弃物协会(Solid Waste Association of North America)总干事戴维·比德曼(David Biderman)说。“我认为公众是可以发挥很大作用的，”他说。
