6種“一廂情願式回收”

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.

這種事我們都幹過：沾滿油污的披薩盒，一次性咖啡杯，多餘的塑料袋。有時，我們希望這些東西能回收，於是把它們丟進了可回收垃圾箱。

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.

垃圾管理公司經常把這種行爲稱爲一廂情願或熱切盼望式回收。但是，不幸的是，把這些東西與其他可回收物放在一起弊大於利。雖然每個城市的規定各不相同（查看當地的垃圾回收網站，弄清哪些是可接受的），我們挑選了一些主要禍害，讓大家記住。

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.

如果這種東西太多，會污染一批可回收物。那意味着，垃圾管理公司可能無法爲這些材料找到買家，尤其是考慮到，主要的可回收垃圾進口國中國已表示，將拒絕接收不純率在0.5%以上的垃圾。受到污染的可回收物可能會被送到垃圾填埋場。

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，但大多數一次性杯子的內壁都有一層聚乙烯薄膜，那是爲了讓杯子防水，但對這層薄膜進行再加工十分困難，而且代價不菲（因爲必須剝離這種材料）。大多數垃圾管理機構把這種杯子當作垃圾處理。

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.

環保組織h資深項目主任吉姆·埃斯(Jim Ace)表示，如果你把這些杯子和其他回收物放在一起，那麼它們很有可能會污染其他東西。在今年的一項實驗中，該組織在星巴克的杯子裏貼上了電子追蹤器，把杯子放入丹佛的可回收垃圾箱，最後在垃圾填埋場裏追蹤到了它們。

“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，“消費者不可能知道一個杯子是否有內襯”，所以最好把它扔掉（你也可以查一查當地的回收公司是否有專門處理咖啡杯的設備。星巴克的一位發言人表示，有些地方有。紐約市衛生部(The New York City Department of Sanitation)表示，它接受“帶有非紙質內襯的紙杯”）。

The plastic lid might be recyclable in your area; check the number inside it against your local recycling guidelines.

在你生活的地區，塑料蓋也許是可回收的。查看杯蓋裏的數字，與當地的回收指南比照。

Greasy pizza boxes

粘有油污的披薩盒

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，披薩盒是最常見的污染源。它的問題在於，油常常會滲入硬紙板。這種油無法與纖維分離，導致纖維的價值降低，更難出售。

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.

倡導垃圾回收的美國全國回收聯盟(National Recycling Coalition)總幹事瑪喬麗·格里克(Marjorie Griek)表示，這並不是說，你絕不能把披薩盒丟入可回收垃圾箱。“如果裏面只有一些麪包屑，那不是問題，”她說。

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.

紐約市衛生部的一位發言人表示，在紐約市，有“少量油脂”的披薩盒是可以回收的。她還表示，如果油脂滲進了紙板，那麼應該放入堆肥垃圾箱，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.

請記住，披薩盒有兩個面。如果有一面沒有油脂，那麼你可以把它撕下來回收。

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.

在中國今年頒佈了塑料廢品禁令後，美國許多市政當局便不再接受3至7號塑料，這包括了諸如酸奶杯、黃油盒和植物油包裝瓶一類。你可以查看容器底部寫在三角形內的數字，看看它是哪類塑料。

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.

佳騰服務公司(Garten Services)首席運營官威爾·波斯蓋特(Will Posegate)說，沒有了中國，這類塑料幾乎沒什麼市場。該公司負責俄勒岡州部分地區的廢品處理。“現在再去處理掉是很貴的，”他說。

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.

瓶蓋該不該留在瓶子上？一些廢品管理員表示這沒問題（只要扭緊了就行），但也有人建議把瓶蓋扔進垃圾箱。

Check your local recycling website to see which plastic types are still acceptable in your area.

你可以看看當地的回收網站，瞭解哪類塑料在你所在的地區仍可回收。

Oily takeout containers

有油污的外賣餐具

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.

即使某個容器在你所在的地區確實被劃歸爲可回收一類，但食物殘留也是一個污染源：剩在塑料盤裏的泰式炒麪，或者是罐底那幾滴變質的牛奶。

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.

俄勒岡州廢物管理局(Waste Management)發言人傑姬·朗(Jackie Lang)表示，就和往回收箱內投入適合的物品一樣，清洗掉可回收物品內的食物殘留也同樣重要。你不需要把容器擦洗得閃閃發亮——這會浪費水。但傑姬·朗說，過多的食物和液體殘留會使一大批廢品都收到污染，這會讓它們被送往填埋場。儘可能“別混進食物和液體，”她說。

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.

如果你的住房內設有垃圾滑槽，或者要走很久纔有回收箱，你可能會養成把廢紙、塑料、玻璃裝在舊塑料袋中的習慣，但是記住重要的一點，塑料袋本身不應該被放入回收車中。

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.

衆所周知，塑料袋會分解成塑料微粒、殺死野生動物。儘管我們希望這些塑料袋會和我們其他的回收品一起被送往處理廠，但不應如此。它們會堵塞機器，變成廢品管理員的噩夢。所以請記住，在把可回收物品放入回收箱時，不要和塑料袋一起扔進去。一些地區會提供塑料袋回收點，會將這些軟性的塑料送往特殊的工廠進行回收。還有一些城市和州已經開始對所有塑料袋的使用進行收稅、限制或禁止。

Dirty diapers (yes, people do this)

髒尿布（沒錯，有人這麼做）

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，我們沒有因爲你想回收髒尿布而指責你，但有人企圖這麼做來着。美國各地的廢品管理機構表示，回收設備裏常常會有髒尿布出現。

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.

業務遍佈俄勒岡州的羅格處理回收公司(Rogue Disposal and Recycling)的發言人加里·潘寧(Garry Penning)表示，有些時候，人們可能會認爲尿布應該是可回收的，因爲它主要由塑料製成。但構成尿布的材料有好幾種，塑料通常也不止一種。當然了，一旦被使用，尿布也會沾滿人類排泄物。

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.

潘寧說，有時候回收箱直接就變成了“垃圾桶滿了以後的去處”。儘管有人嘗試對尿布進行回收，但在大多數情況下，一次性尿布是不可回收的，最好把它們直接扔進垃圾箱裏。

“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.

“中國限制垃圾進口的結果就是，我們需要教育公衆如何正確回收垃圾了，”北美固體廢棄物協會(Solid Waste Association of North America)總幹事戴維·比德曼(David Biderman)說。“我認爲公衆是可以發揮很大作用的，”他說。