添加微信好友, 獲取更多信息
復制微信號
導讀：目前，麻布袋帆布袋制作電話/微信：15838231350棉質手提袋已經成為各個品牌商、零售商和超市宣傳環保理念的一種手段，至少他們意識到了塑料在包裝中的濫用。那么，棉布袋真的環保嗎？其實并非如此。全面推廣棉質手提袋，實際上可能會帶來一個新問題。
無注釋原文：
The Cotton Tote Crisis
Cotton bags have become a means for brands, retailers and supermarkets to telegraph a planet-friendly mindset – or, at least, to show that the companies are aware of the overuse of plastic in packaging.
"There’s a trend in New York right now where people are wearing merch: carrying totes from local delis, hardware stores or their favourite steakhouse,” says designer Rachel Comey.
So far, so Earth-friendly? Not exactly. It turns out the wholehearted embrace of cotton totes may actually have created a new problem.
An organic cotton tote needs to be used 20,000 times to offset its overall impact of production, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That equates to daily use for 54 years – for just one bag.
Cotton is water-intensive, and figuring out how to dispose of a tote in an environmentally low-impact way is not nearly as simple as people think, according to Travis Wagner, an environmental science professor at the University of Maine.
You can’t, for example, just put a tote in a compost bin, and only 15 percent of the 30 million tons of cotton produced every year actually makes its way to textile depositories. Even when a tote does make it to a treatment plant, most dyes used to print logos onto them are PVC-based and thus not recyclable.
That’s not to say cotton is worse than plastic, or that the two should even be compared. While cotton can use pesticides and has dried up rivers from water consumption, lightweight plastic bags use greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, are not biodegrade and clog up the oceans.
Buffy Reid, of the British knitwear label &Daughter, halted production of her cotton bags in April this year. Aesop is converting the composition of its shopping bags to a blend of recycled and organic cotton. “It will cost us 15 percent more,” says Suzanne Santos, the chief customer officer of Aesop, but “it reduces water by 70 percent to 80 percent”.
Some brands are turning to other textile solutions. Designer Ally Capellino recently swapped cotton for hemp, while Hindmarch introduced a new version of her original tote, this time made from recycled water bottles; Nordstrom also uses similar bags in its stores.
In the end, the simplest solution may be the most obvious. “Not every product needs a bag,” Comey says.
帶注釋全文：
The Cotton Tote Crisis
Cotton bags have become a means for brands, retailers and supermarkets to telegraph a planet-friendly mindset – or, at least, to show that the companies are aware of the overuse of plastic in packaging.
"There’s a trend in New York right now where people are wearing merch: carrying totes from local delis, hardware stores or their favourite steakhouse,” says designer Rachel Comey.
設計師蕾切爾·科米說："現在紐約有這樣一種潮流，人們喜歡穿著T恤，提著當地熟食店、五金店或他們最喜歡的牛排館發放的手提袋。"
tote [t??t] 此處用作名詞
n. 大手提袋
vt. 攜帶，搬運（尤指重物）
[例句] To avoid using plastic bags, I take my tote bag when I go shopping.
為了避免使用塑膠袋，我去購物的時候都會帶購物袋。
deli [?deli]
n. (出售干酪、冷盤肉等的)熟食店
[例句] There is a great Italian deli across the street.
穿過街道，有一家麻布袋帆布袋制作電話/微信：15838231350年夜的意大利熟食店。
So far, so Earth-friendly? Not exactly. It turns out the wholehearted embrace of cotton totes may actually have created a new problem.
An organic cotton tote needs to be used 20,000 times to offset its overall impact of production, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That equates to daily use for 54 years – for just one bag.
丹麥環境和食品部2018年的一項研究顯示，一個有機棉手提袋需要使用20,000次，才能抵消其生產過程帶來的整體負面影響。一個袋子，如果每天使用，相當于得使用54年。
equate [i?kwe?t]
vt. 相當于，使等同
[例句] People often equate success in life with the ability of operating computer.
人們常把人生的成功與使用計算機的能力相等同。
Cotton is water-intensive, and figuring out how to dispose of a tote in an environmentally low-impact way is not nearly as simple as people think, according to Travis Wagner, an environmental science professor at the University of Maine.
緬因大學環境科學教授特拉維斯·瓦格納表示，棉布在制作過程中需要大量的水，要想以一種對環境影響小的方式制造一個手提袋，并不像人們想象的那樣簡單。
You can’t, for example, just put a tote in a compost bin, and only 15 percent of the 30 million tons of cotton produced every year actually makes its way to textile depositories. Even when a tote does make it to a treatment plant, most dyes used to print logos onto them are PVC-based and thus not recyclable.
They’re “extremely difficult to break down chemically,” said Christopher Stanev, the co-founder of Evrnu, a Seattle-based textile recycling firm. Printed patterns have to be cut out of the cloth; Mr. Stanev estimates 10 to 15 percent of the cotton Evrnu receives is wasted this way.
西雅圖紡織品回收公司 Evrnu 的聯合創始人克里斯托弗·斯塔涅夫說，它們 "極難用化學方法分解"。必須將印有圖案的部分剪掉才能回收，斯坦尼夫先生估計，Evrnu 公司收到的棉布中，有10%至15%是以這種方式浪費掉的。
That’s not to say cotton is worse than plastic, or that the two should even be compared. While cotton can use pesticides and has dried up rivers from water consumption, lightweight plastic bags use greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, are not biodegrade and clog up the oceans.
這并不是說棉花比塑料更差，或者兩者應該相提并論。棉花可能會被使用殺蟲劑，并因耗水而使河流干涸，而輕質塑料袋則使用排放溫室氣體的化石燃料，不能被生物降解，堆積在海里。
pesticide [?pest?sa?d]
n. 殺蟲劑
[例句] Samples of the water contained pesticide.
水樣中含有殺蟲劑。
clog up [kl?ɡ ?p]
動詞詞組：（使）阻塞; （使）堵塞
[例句] An air filter system eliminates any dust that might clog up the movements.
空氣過濾系統可以消除空氣中的塵埃，以免阻塞機芯的運作。
Buffy Reid, of the British knitwear label &Daughter, halted production of her cotton bags in April this year. Aesop is converting the composition of its shopping bags to a blend of recycled and organic cotton. “It will cost us 15 percent more,” says Suzanne Santos, the chief customer officer of Aesop, but “it reduces water by 70 percent to 80 percent”.
英國針織品品牌 &Daughter 的創始人巴菲·里德今年4月停止了她的棉布袋子的生產。伊索正在將他們購物袋的成分轉換為再生棉和有機棉的混合物。伊索公司的首席客戶官蘇珊娜·桑托斯說："這將使我們的成本增加15%，但這可以節約70%到80%的水。"
Some brands are turning to other textile solutions. Designer Ally Capellino recently swapped cotton for hemp, while Hindmarch introduced a new version of her original tote, this time made from recycled water bottles; Nordstrom also uses similar bags in its stores.
In the end, the simplest solution may be the most obvious. “Not every product needs a bag,” Comey says.
關注：英語期刊精讀
英語學習的路上，伴你一起不孤獨，
點個「在看」吧，再忙也要堅持學習！
