加拿大计划2021年禁止一次性塑料用品

Canada plans to ban single-use plastics by 2021

加拿大计划2021年禁止一次性塑料用品

From plastic bags to straws, single-use plastic products have worn out their welcome in Canada. Today, the Canadian government announced that it plans to “ban harmful single-use plastics as early as 2021” in an effort to reduce the 3 million tons of plastic waste tossed out by the country every year.

从塑料袋到塑料吸管，加拿大人对一次性塑料用品的热情已渐渐消磨殆尽。今天，加拿大政府宣布，计划“最早于2021年禁止使用一次性塑料用品”，以减少塑料垃圾（该国每年会扔掉300万吨塑料垃圾）。

According to the Canadian government, 15 billion plastic bags are used in Canada every year, along with 57 million plastic straws every day. Not only that, but only 10 percent of plastic waste in the country actually gets recycled. And since China stopped importing plastic recycling last year, Canada’s plastic problems (and recycling problems) have taken on a new urgency.

加拿大政府表示，加拿大每年使用的塑料袋达150亿个，每天使用的塑料吸管达5700万根。除此之外，只有10%的废塑料会被回收利用。去年，中国开始停止进口废塑料，加拿大的塑料问题（及循环问题）面临新的难题。

Canada isn’t alone in confronting the plastic juggernaut. Plastics are now just about everywhere on Earth, from the deepest parts of the ocean to the frozen wilderness of Antarctica. Fish, birds, and other creatures can get caught in plastic trash or eat plastic particles instead of food, often with tragic results. Once plastic makes it to the ocean, it is incredibly difficult to clean up. One of the best ways to prevent plastic from getting into the ocean is to stop using so much of it in the first place.

很多国家和加拿大一样，正在面临塑料问题。现而今，地球上到处都是塑料，从海洋的最深处到南极洲的冰冻荒原。鱼、鸟和其它生物可能会受困于塑料垃圾或不小心吞下塑料颗粒而非食物，通常都会带来不幸的结果。塑料一旦流入海洋，清理工作将变得尤为困难。不再过度使用塑料制品是防止塑料垃圾流入海洋的最佳方法之一。

“WE OWE IT TO OUR KIDS TO KEEP THE ENVIRONMENT CLEAN AND SAFE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.”

“为了我们的孩子和子孙后代，我们应保持干净、安全的环境。”The plastic ban announcement brings Canada in line with a global movement to ban single-use plastic products, including bags and straws. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited the European Union’s recent decision to ban single-use plastics as the inspiration for Canada’s ban.

塑料禁令的宣布是加拿大向禁止一次性塑料用品的全球运动（包括塑料袋和塑料吸管）迈出的重要一步。加拿大总理贾斯汀·特鲁多（Justin Trudeau）将欧盟禁止一次性塑料的最新决定作为加拿大禁令的灵感。

Exactly which plastics will be banned and how the ban will be enforced hasn’t yet been decided. The government recently commissioned a scientific report on plastic pollution, and it will make formal decisions about individual items once the report is released. But some products are likely to make that final list. In the news release announcing the proposed policy, “shopping bags, straws, cutlery, plates, and stir sticks” were all mentioned as examples of what could be on the chopping block.

目前尚未决定具体禁止哪些塑料用品以及如何执行该禁令。近日，加拿大政府正在编写一份关于塑料污染的科学报告。报告一经发布，政府将对特定用品的禁令做出正式决定。在宣布上述政策的资讯发布会中，“购物袋、吸管、塑料餐具和餐盘、以及塑料搅拌棒”都应被禁止使用。