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Single-use plastic bags, a staple of American life, have got to go, the United Nations' top environmental official said Monday.
Although recycling bags is on the rise in the United States , an estimated 90 billion thin bags a year, most used to handle produce and groceries, go unrecycled. They were the second most common form of litter after cigarette butts at the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup Day sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy, a marine environmental group.
"Single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere. There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere," said Achim Steiner , executive director of the UN Environment Programme. His office advises UN member states on environmental policies.
Steiner's declaration accompanied a UNEP report that identifies plastic as the most pervasive form of ocean litter. According to the report, " Plastic , the most prevalent component of marine debris, poses hazards because it persists so long in the ocean, degrading into tinier and tinier bits that can be consumed by the smallest marine life at the base of the food web."
Ireland managed to cut single-use plastic bag consumption 90 percent by levying a fee on each bag that consumers use.
In the United States , only San Francisco has completely banned plastic bags. Los Angeles will do so in 2010. Also, Washington, D.C.'s city council is set to vote on a five-cent -a-bag tax later this month. On first reading, the bill passed unanimously. Similar proposals have failed in New York and Philadelphia .
Keith Christman , senior director for the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council , responded that the term "single-use" is misleading because most people actually reuse plastic bags, "for example, to line their trash cans."
"A ban on plastic bags could also cause some unintended consequences," he said. In particular, the increased demand for paper bags would double greenhouse emissions and create "a dramatic increase in waste," Christman said.
Leading U.S. plastic bag manufacturers aim to increase the recycled content of plastic bags to 40 percent by 2015, he added. That would reduce plastic waste by 300 million pounds a year.
"Recycling is what we see as the best approach for the US," Christman said. " Plastic is just too valuable to waste."
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(Agencies)
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一次性塑料袋是美國人的日常生活用品。聯合國環境部門的高級官員于本周一稱，應禁止使用塑料袋。
盡管越來越多的美國人開始使用環保袋，但據估計，每年人們使用的900億個超薄塑料袋并沒有被循環利用，大部分塑料袋用來裝商品和雜貨。在海洋環境組織“海洋保護協會”主辦的“2008年國際海灘清潔日”活動上，塑料袋被列為第二大常見垃圾，僅次于煙蒂。
聯合國環境規劃署執行主任阿齊姆?施泰納說：“一次性塑料袋會導致海洋生物窒息，人們應盡快在全球禁止使用或逐步淘汰它。不管在什么地方，都沒有任何理由再繼續生產一次性塑料袋度。”他所在的部門建議聯合國會員國家實施環保政策。
與施泰納的聲明同時出爐的還有一份聯合國環境規劃署的報告，該報告將塑料列為最常見的海洋垃圾。該報告指出，“塑料在海洋垃圾中最常見，由于它能在海洋里停留很久，分解成小片直至碎片，甚至處于食物網底層的最小的海洋生物都能吸收，因此構成很大威脅。”
自從愛爾蘭對消費者使用的每個塑料袋收費后，該國塑料袋的使用量減少了90%。
在美國，僅有舊金山完全禁用塑料袋。洛杉磯在2010年也將效法。華盛頓特區市議會將于下半月投票決定是否對每個塑料袋征收五美分的稅。該法案在初審時全票通過。類似的提案在紐約和費城遭到否決。
美國化學理事會塑料分部的高級主管基思? 回應稱，人們誤解了“一次性”的含義，因為大部分人其實會多次使用塑料袋，“比如，墊垃圾桶。”
他說：“禁用塑料袋也會招致一些意外的影響。”特別是紙袋需求的大幅上升會使溫室氣體排出量加倍，并導致“浪費驟然加劇。”
他補充稱，美國主要的塑料袋生產商打算在2015年之前將塑料袋可循環利用的成分增至40%。這可以每年減少3億磅的塑料浪費。
他說：“對美國來說，重復利用塑料是最好的辦法。它價值很大，我們不能浪費。”
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（英語點津 實習生許雅寧編輯）
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