Every year, the average American goes through more than 250 pounds of plastic waste, and much of that comes from packaging.
每一年里，美国人平均会扔掉250磅的塑料垃圾，其中大部分来自于包装。
So what do we do with it all?
那这些垃圾怎么处理呢？
Your recycling bin is part of the solution, but many of us are confused about what we should be putting in there.
你的回收箱是解决方案的一部分，但是很多人都不知道应该把什么放进去。
What’s recyclable in one community could be trash in another.
在一个社区可以回收的东西在另一个社区可能是垃圾。
This interactive explores some of the plastics the recycling system was designed to handle and explains why other plastic packaging shouldn’t go in your recycling bin.
以下列出了回收系统可以处理的塑料并解释了其他塑料包装不应该放入回收箱的原因。
Let’s take a look at some items you might pick up at the grocery store.
让我们来看看你可能会在杂货店遇到的一物品吧。
At the store we find it covering vegetables, meats and cheeses.
在店里，我们可以看到有蔬菜，肉类和奶酪都用塑料膜来包裹。
It’s common, but it can’t be recycled because it’s hard to deal with at the material recovery facility, or MRF. The MRF is where items collected from residences, offices and more through public and private recycling programs are taken to be sorted, baled and sold.
这很常见，但无法回收，因为在材料回收站很难处理，材料回收站是通过公共和私人回收项目从住宅、办公室和更多地方收集的物品被分类、打包和出售的地方。
The thin film gets wrapped around the equipment and can bring the operation to a standstill.
这些薄膜会包裹在设备上，可能会使设备停止运转。
Small plastics, roughly 3 inches or smaller, also can cause problems for recycling equipment.
小型塑料，大概小于3英寸那种，也会给回收设备带来问题。
Bread bag clips, pill packaging, single-use condiment pouches — all of these small pieces get caught or fall between the belts and gears of the machinery at the MRF.
面包袋夹、药片包装、一次性调味品袋——所有这些小部件都会在材料回收站的机器皮带和齿轮之间卡住或掉落。
They end up being treated as trash.
最后它们就会被作为垃圾进行处理。
Plastic tampon applicators are not recyclable; just throw them away.
塑胶卫生棉条导入器不可循环利用;应该把它们扔掉。
This type of packaging flattens out on the MRF’s conveyor belt and ends up being incorrectly sorted and mixed with paper, rendering the whole bale unsellable.
上图这种包装在材料回收站的传送带上会变平，最终被错误地分类并与纸张混合，导致整个一捆都无法销售。
Even if pouches were collected and separated by recyclers, there would be no one to buy them because there aren’t yet products or end markets for which this type of plastic would be useful.
即使垃圾袋被回收商收集并分开，也没有人会买它们，因为目前还没有这种塑料制成有用的产品或终端市场。
Flexible packaging such as potato chip bags are made from layers of different types of plastic and often are lined with aluminum.
软性包装，如薯片袋是由不同类型的塑料层制成，往往内衬里铝。
It’s not possible to easily separate the layers and capture the desired resin.
这些层没法分开来获得想要的树脂。
Like flexible packaging, these containers challenge the recycling system because they’re made of several different types of plastic: the shiny adhesive labels are one plastic, the protective cap another, and a twistable gear can be yet another.
像软包装一样，上图的这些容器也是回收系统的挑战，因为它们是由几种不同类型的塑料制成的:闪亮的胶粘标签是一种塑料，保护帽是另一种塑料，可弯曲的齿轮则是另一种塑料。
These are the types of items the recycling system was developed to handle.
上图这些才是材料回收站设计出来可以处理的物品。
The containers are firm, they don’t flatten out like paper and they’re made from a kind of plastic that manufacturers can easily sell for making products such as carpet, fleece clothing or even more plastic bottles.
这些容器必须要很结实，它们不能像纸一样变平，而且它们得是由同一种塑料制成的，这样制造商可以很容易地将这种塑料用于生产地毯、羊绒服装或者更多的塑料瓶。
As for the caps, some sorting facilities want people to keep them on while others say to take them off.
至于瓶盖，有些回收站会希望人们保留，有些则希望人们把它们取掉。
It depends on what equipment the local materials recovery facility has.
这取决于当地材料回收站的设备如何。
If you keep them on and the MRF can’t process them, the caps can become dangerous.
假如你保留了瓶盖而材料回收站又没法处理它们，这些瓶盖就会带来危险。
Bottles are subjected to high pressure in the sorting and baling process, which can force caps off at high speeds, potentially harming workers.
瓶子在分选和打包过程中会经历高压，这可能会导致瓶盖高速脱落，从而伤害到工人。
However, other MRFs can capture and recycle the caps.
不过，有些材料回收站又可以收集并循环使用这些瓶盖。
Ask what your local facility prefers.
所以去问问当地的回收站他们是哪一种吧。
A bottle with a cap or an opening the same size or smaller than the base of the bottle is probably going to be recyclable.
那些开口或者瓶盖小于等于瓶底的瓶子是可以循环使用的。
Bottles used for laundry detergent and personal care products such as shampoo and soap are all recyclable.
那些装内衣清洁剂和个人洗护用品如洗发香波和沐浴露的瓶子是可以全部回收的。
If nozzle heads on spray cleaners contain metal springs, remove them and discard them in the trash.
假如清洁剂喷雾的喷头上有金属弹簧，那就把弹簧取掉然后当作垃圾扔掉。
About a third of all kinds of plastic bottles get recycled into new products.
各种塑料瓶中大约有三分之一被回收制成了新产品。
Clamshells are made from the same type of plastic as beverage bottles, but not every curbside recycler can process them.
塑料壳用饮料瓶同意的塑料做成的，但并不是每个路边回收者都能处理这些垃圾。
That’s because the way clamshells are molded affects the structure of the plastic, making them more difficult to recycle.
这是因为这些塑料壳被塑模的方式会影响塑料的结构，使得它们更难回收。
You might notice that clamshells, and many other plastic containers, come with a number inside a triangle of arrows.
你可能会注意到塑料壳和其他的塑料容器上会贴有一个箭头组成的三角形标志，三角形中间有个数字。
This 1 through 7 numbering system is called a resin identification code.
这种从1到7的数字系统被称为树脂标识码。
It was developed in the late 1980s as a way to help recyclers, not consumers, identify the type of resin a plastic is made from.
这是20世纪80年代设计出来的，用来帮助回收人员，而不是消费者，帮他们识别这种塑料是用什么类型的树脂做成的。
It does not necessarily mean the item is recyclable.
有这个标志不一定表示这个物品就可以回收。
These containers are usually marked with a 5 inside a triangle.
上图这些容器通常会三角形标志中的数字是5。
Tubs are often made with a mix of plastic types.
杯身通常是用混合型塑料制成的。
This can make it a difficult material for recyclers to sell to companies that would rather have a single type of plastic for their manufacturing.
这可能会导致在回收人员在把它们卖给那些想收单一类型的塑料来进行制造的公司时，遇到困难。
However, that’s not always the case.
不过，这种情况并不总是发生。
Trash collection and disposal company Waste Management says they work with a manufacturer that takes yogurt, sour cream and butter tubs and turns them into paint cans, for example.
比如，垃圾回收处理公司“废弃物管理”公司说他们合作的制造商可以收集酸奶，酸奶油和黄油的杯身然后把它们制成颜料罐。
Foam polystyrene, like that found in meat packaging or egg cartons, is made of mostly air.
泡沫聚苯乙烯，就像在肉类包装或蛋盒中看到的那种，大部分都是空气。
A special machine is required to remove the air and condense the material into a patty or block for resale.
他们研发了一种特殊的机器来赶出这些空气，然后把材料压缩制成可以再次销售的塑料包。
These foam products have little value because once the air is removed, very little material remains.
这些泡沫产品价值很低因为空气被赶出后，剩下的材料以及很少了。
Dozens of cities throughout the U.S. have banned plastic foam.
美国几十个城市已经禁止使用泡沫塑料
Just this year, Maine and Maryland passed statewide bans of polystyrene food containers.
就在今年，缅因州和马里兰州通过了全州禁止聚苯乙烯食品容器的禁令。
Some communities, however, have drop-off locations for plastic foam recycling, which can be made into crown molding and picture frames.
然而，有些社区设有回收泡沫塑料的站点，泡沫塑料可以制成皇冠模型和相框。
Plastic bags — like those used for bread, newspapers and as cereal box liners, as well as sandwich bags, dry cleaning bags and grocery bags — create similar problems for recycling machinery as thin plastic film.
塑料袋——就像那些用于面包、报纸和麦片盒内衬的塑料袋，以及三明治袋、干洗袋和杂货袋的那种——对回收机器造成了类似塑料膜一样的问题。
However, they can be returned to the grocery store for recycling.
不过，可以把它们还给杂货店循环使用。
There are approximately 18,000 plastic bag drop-off bins at major grocery store chains, including Walmart and Target, around the country.
包括沃尔玛(Walmart)和塔吉特(Target)在内的美国大型连锁杂货店共有大约1.8万个塑料袋回收箱。
These retailers send the plastic to recyclers, who use the material in products such as composite decking.
这些零售商将这些塑料送到回收商那里，回收商再将这些材料用于复合地板等产品中。
The How2Recycle label is showing up on more products at the grocery store.
如今杂货店里越来越多的产品上都有这种标明回收方式的标签。
The label was created by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and a recycling nonprofit called GreenBlue as a way to provide clear instructions to consumers about packaging recyclability.
这个标签是由可持续包装联盟和一个名为蓝绿色的回收非盈利组织创建的，目的是向消费者提供关于包装可回收性的明确指示。
GreenBlue says that there are more than 2,500 variations of the label in circulation on products ranging from cereal boxes to toilet bowl cleaner.
蓝绿色组织称在流通的产品中，从麦片盒到抽水马桶清洁剂，有超过2500种不同的标签。
The plastics you put in your recycling bin are brought here to the material recovery facility.
人们放进塑料回收箱的塑料最后会被带到上图的塑料回收站。
This is where people and automated equipment sort plastics by type and shape.
这里人们和自动设备会按类型和大小分选塑料。
MRFs vary quite a bit.
塑料回收站有不同的类型。
Some MRFs are well-funded as part of larger companies.
有些塑料回收站是由大公司资助，并作为他们公司的一部分。
Some are run by municipalities.
有些则是市营的。
Others are small, privately owned operations.
其余的则是小型私营企业。
问题
文中提到包装食品的塑料膜是否可以回收呢？
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