国家地理:没有垃圾的世界可能存在吗(9)

Jorik Boer makes a living rescuing some of them as head of the Boer Group, a Dutch family business that began a century ago on the streets of Rotterdam with his great-grandfather collecting rags, metal, and paper in a cart. Today, from his base in Dordrecht, Boer runs five plants in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany. Together they collect and sort -- and resell for reuse or recycling -- up to 460 tons of discarded clothing a day.

博尔集团的总裁约里克·博尔依靠回收这些衣物赚钱。他的荷兰家族生意始于百年前的鹿特丹，从博尔的曾祖父用手推车收集废布、金属、纸头开始。今天，他坐镇多德雷赫特的总部，经营着设在荷兰、比利时、法国和德国的五家工厂。他们每天收集、分类、卖给回收站或二手市场的丢弃衣物总量可达460吨。

People have the wrong idea about what happens when they drop clothes into a donation bin, Boer said; they think the clothes are given directly to needy people. What usually happens instead is that companies like Boer buy donated clothing, sort it, and resell it -- all over the world.

博尔说，人们对自己将旧衣服投入捐赠箱后发生的一切有所误解；他们以为那些衣服会直接被送给有需要的人。事实是，通常由类似博尔集团的公司收购捐赠的衣物，经过分类转卖到世界各地。

"You need a lot of experience to know where you can sell and reuse a piece of clothing," Boer said. Through the window behind him, I could see the rapid but practiced movements of women pulling clothes from conveyors, examining each item briefly, then pivoting and tossing it into one of 60 or so bags. Each woman sorts about three tons a day, Boer said. Sorters must have an eye for fashion -- especially for the best stuff, just 5 or 10 percent of the total, which makes most of Boer's profit. In Russia and eastern Europe, prized items such as women's underwear can fetch up to five euros a kilogram ($2.50 a pound). Most lower quality material gets shipped in 55-kilogram bales to Africa, where it's sold for as little as 50 cents a kilo.

“你需要丰富的经验，才能确知一件衣物能够销往哪里、重新利用。”博尔说。通过他身后的窗子，可以看到女工们快速而熟练地从传送带拉下衣服，逐件稍作检视，然后转身丢进约60个分拣袋中的一个。博尔说，每名女工每天约分拣3吨衣物，做这事必须有时尚眼光--尤其是对于仅占总量5%-10%的优等品，它们是博尔的主要收入来源。在俄罗斯和东欧，女性内衣这类热门货可卖出每公斤5欧元的好价钱。大部分次品被打成每个55公斤的大捆，运往非洲，售价可低廉到每公斤0.5美元。