国家地理:没有垃圾的世界可能存在吗(11)

The other 40 percent, the clothes no one wants, are recycled as wipe cloths or shredded for insulation or mattress stuffing. Some are incinerated. The recycled fraction increasingly includes cheaply made, worn-out items. Boer loses money on almost all of it. Fast fashion, he said, could help put him out of business.

剩下40%没人要的衣服将回收制成抹布，或者粉碎后用于填充床垫的保温层。有一些被焚烧。越来越多价廉质劣的衣物流入这个回收类别，其中几乎所有货品都让博尔赔本。他说，快消时尚可能让他生意难以为继。

There's one form of recycling he makes a modest profit on. For decades Boer has shipped wool sweaters and other loose knits to companies in Prato, Italy, that mechanically tease the wool apart, recapturing long fibers that can become good-as-new garments. Woven cotton or polyester can't be recycled that way; the fibers end up too short. Half a dozen start-ups are working on technology to chemically recycle these fibers. To spur its development, Boer thinks the European Union should require new clothes to contain, say, 20 percent recycled fibers.

有一种回收方式能让他赚取薄利。数十年来，博尔将羊毛衫和其他松散织物运往意大利普拉托的各家公司，它们用机器拆开毛线，收集能够重制成翻新衣物的长纤维。棉线和聚酯纤维无法如此回收：拆解出来的纤维太短。数家创业公司正在研发新技术，用化学方式回收这类纤维。博尔认为，欧盟应该要求所有新衣服包含20%左右的回收纤维，以鼓励这项产业发展。

"In 10 years it will be there," Boer said. "It has to be there."

“十年内就会落成，”他说，“必须落成。”

At Ellen MacArthur I heard enthusiasm for a different business model, one that might promote circularity in many economic sectors -- a model based on renting rather than owning. Rent the Runway and other online clothes-rental companies make up less than a 10th of a percent of the global fashion market so far, but they're growing fast.

在艾伦·麦克阿瑟基金会，我听到了对另一种商业模式的热忱，它有望在诸多经济领域中促进资源循环。这是一种基于租赁而非持有的消费模式。各家网上租衣公司目前只占全球时尚市场的不到0.1%，但正在迅速成长。

In theory, renting is more sustainable: If many people share the same item, fewer clothes might be needed overall. In practice, that's not certain; customers might just add luxury rentals to existing wardrobes. Renting will certainly add to the packaging, shipping, and dry-cleaning of clothes. Writing in Elle recently, journalist Elizabeth Cline, author of two books on fast fashion, tried to sort out the pros and cons. "Wearing what's already in your closet is the most sustainable way to get dressed," she concluded.

理论上说，租借更加环保：假如一件物品能由多人使用，则所需衣物总量就会减少。但在实践中并不一定如此，顾客们可能只会在原有衣橱基础上附加奢侈品租借。出租也必将增加服装所需的包装、寄运和干洗处理。着有两本快消时尚专着的记者伊丽莎白·克莱因近期在《ELLE》杂志发表文章探讨该模式的利弊两面。“穿自己衣橱中已有的衣物是最具可持续性的着装方式。”她总结道。