Plastic recycling is a hot topic. But what’s the real face behind it? You diligently sort your rubbish; you dutifully wash your plastic containers; then everything gets thrown in a landfill or in the ocean anyway. According to one analysis, only 9% of all plastic ever made has likely been recycled. Here’s the kicker: the companies making all that plastic have spent millions on advertising campaigns lecturing us about recycling while knowing full well that most plastic will never be recycled.
A new investigation by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) reports that the large oil and gas companies that manufacture plastics have known for decades that recycling plastic was unlikely to ever happen on a broad scale because of the high costs involved. “They were not interested in putting any real money or effort into recycling because they wanted to sell raw material,” Larry Thomas, former president of one of the plastic industry’s most powerful trade groups, told NPR. There is a lot more money to be made in selling new plastic than reusing the old stuff. But, in order to keep selling new plastic, the industry had to clean up its wasteful image. “If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be so concerned about the environment,” Thomas noted.
We have been successfully convinced that people start pollution and people can stop it and that if we just recycle more, the planet will be OK. To some degree, that is right: there must be a level of personal responsibility when it comes to the climate emergency. We all have to do our part. But individual action is a tiny drop in a heavily polluted ocean. We need systematic change to make a real difference. And, more than anything, we need to change what we value.
【小题1】According to the text, what does the underlined word “kicker” probably mean?| A．A player who kicks the football. |
| B．An event that is controversial. |
| C．An action that is taken to start a plan quickly. |
| D．A discovery that is unpleasant and unexpected. |
| A．Plastic recycling is necessary and effective. |
| B．Large amounts of money are spent on recycling. |
| C．The companies try to promote the sales of new material. |
| D．The companies prefer to sell recycled material rather than new materials. |
| A．Most people have a sense of responsibility. |
| B．Plenty of rubbish is dropped into the ocean. |
| C．Fighting against pollution calls for joint efforts. |
| D．Systematic change was made to reduce pollution. |
