彻底禁用塑料真的好？

An outright ban on plastics could cause even more harm to the environment and lead to triple the amount of greenhouse gas emissions

完全禁止使用塑料可能对环境造成更大的危害，导致温室气体排放量增加两倍。

That’s the finding of experts from Herriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, who say that replacing plastic with alternate materials such as metal and glass won’t help the environment.

这是爱丁堡赫里奥特-瓦特大学专家的发现。他们说，用金属和玻璃等替代材料取代塑料对环境没有帮助。

The team say this is because the manufacturing of these replacements could double global energy consumption.

这个团队称，这是因为制造这些替代品可能使全球能源消耗翻番。

Resources required to process these replacement materials would lead to more energy consumption and more greenhouse gas.

加工这些替代材料所需的资源将产生更多的能源消耗和温室气体。

Campaigners have called for reductions or bans, with recent programmes such as the BBC’s Blue Planet highlighting the impact of plastics on the world’s oceans.

活动人士呼吁减少或禁止使用塑料，最近BBC的《蓝色星球》(Blue Planet)等节目中也强调了塑料对世界海洋的影响。

But the team of forty academics said arguments surrounding a reduction or ban are ’often shortsighted and not based on facts’.

但这个由40名学者组成的研究小组说，减少或禁止使用塑料的观点“往往缺乏远见，也缺乏事实依据”。

The waste products produced when making metal and glass are all bad for the environment.

制造金属和玻璃时产生的废品都对环境有害。

The major environmental impact of glass and metal production is caused by atmospheric emissions from melting activities.

玻璃和金属生产对环境的主要影响是由熔化过程中产生的大气排放造成的。

The combustion of natural gas/fuel oil and the decomposition of raw materials during the melting lead to the emission of CO2.

熔化过程中天然气/燃料油的燃烧和原料的分解会排放二氧化碳。

Professor David Bucknall, who led the research, said that transportation of consumer goods in plastic packaging means fewer vehicles because plastic is lightweight.

领导这项研究的大卫·巴克纳尔教授说，塑料包装的消费品运输意味着需要更少的车辆，因为塑料很轻。

The academics draw expertise from engineering, science, economics and social science, said there needs to be a ’circular economy’ for plastic usage.

这些学者从工程、科学、经济学和社会科学中汲取了专业知识，他们提出，塑料的使用需要“循环经济”。

Almost everything we touch or interact with on a daily basis is made of or contains a plastic of some description,’ said Professor David Bucknall, chairman in materials chemistry from the university’s Institute of Chemical Sciences.

该大学化学科学研究所材料化学系主任巴克纳尔教授说，我们每天接触的几乎所有东西都是由某种塑料制成的，或含有某种塑料。

Banning or reducing their use would have a massive impact on the way we live.

“禁止或减少使用它们将对我们的生活方式产生巨大影响。”