一個環(huán)保組織就塑料污染起訴可口可樂和百事可樂

一個環(huán)保組織就塑料污染起訴可口可樂和百事可樂

The California-based environmental group, Earth Island Institute, have filed a lawsuit against 10 large companies, including Coke, Pepsi, and Nestlé, for their part in creating a plastic pollution “nuisance”, as well as spreading misinformation about the recyclability of their plastic packaging.

總部位于加州的環(huán)保組織地球島研究所(Earth Island Institute)已對包括可口可樂(Coke)、百事可樂(Pepsi)和雀巢(Nestle)在內(nèi)的10家大公司提起訴訟，理由是這些公司制造了塑料污染“公害”，并散布有關(guān)其塑料包裝可回收性的錯誤信息。

Last Wednesday, February 26, 2020, the suit was filed in San Mateo county superior court, asking that the companies pay to rectify the damage their plastic pollution has caused to the world and refrain from marketing products as recyclable, when by and large they do not end up actually being recycled at recycling facilities, due to the sheer volume and cost, as well as sorting capabilities of local facilities.

上周三,2020年2月26日,在圣馬刁縣高級法院提起訴訟,要求公司支付糾正他們塑料污染所造成的危害,避免營銷產(chǎn)品可回收利用,當最后總的來說他們不被回收的回收設(shè)施,由于龐大的體積和成本,以及當?shù)卦O(shè)施的排序功能。

Katy Pallister

“This is the first of what I believe will be a wave of lawsuits seeking to hold the plastics industry accountable for the unprecedented mess in our oceans,” Josh Floum, Earth Island Institute’s board president, said in a statement.

地球島研究所理事會主席喬希·弗洛姆在一份聲明中表示:“我相信，這將是一波訴訟浪潮的第一步，要求塑料行業(yè)為我們海洋中前所未有的混亂局面承擔責任。”

Around 150 million metric tonnes of plastic currently reside in the ocean, with between 8 and 20 million extra tonnes of plastic added each year to this figure, according to research estimates. At this rate, plastic is set to outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050. In the plaintiff's suit, they argue that plastic pollution has a detrimental impact on the environment and its inhabitants.

據(jù)研究估計，目前海洋中大約有1.5億噸塑料，每年還會增加800萬到2000萬噸塑料。按照這個速度，到2050年海洋中的塑料垃圾將超過魚類。在原告的訴訟中，他們認為塑料污染對環(huán)境和居民有有害的影響。

"Garbage Patches," like this image shows, are areas where pollution in the ocean congregates. NOAA

From beach cleanups conducted as part of an international audit last year, single-use plastic packaging was gathered by over 72,000 volunteers across 51 countries and categorized by brand. It was found that the majority of oceanic plastic pollution can be traced back to a handful of major companies. The lawsuit names 10 of the most abundant brands in this search: Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Pepsi, Mondelēz International, Mars, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Crystal Geyser, and Danone.

去年，作為國際審計的一部分，進行了一次海灘清理工作，來自51個國家的72000多名志愿者收集了一次性塑料包裝，并按品牌進行了分類。調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，大部分海洋塑料污染可以追溯到少數(shù)幾家大公司。訴訟的名字10最豐富的品牌在這個搜索:可口可樂、百事可樂、雀巢Mondelēz國際火星,寶潔、高露潔、水晶噴泉,和達能。

“The products that we are targeting in our lawsuit are contained in plastic packaging that is designed to be used for a short period of time, sometimes just a few minutes,” Earth Island’s General Counsel Sumona Majumdar said. “And yet, this packaging pollutes our bodies from one generation to the next, and our planet for centuries.”

地球島的總法律顧問蘇莫娜·馬強達爾說:“我們在訴訟中針對的產(chǎn)品被包裝在塑料包裝里，設(shè)計使用時間很短，有時只有幾分鐘。”“然而，這種包裝污染了我們的身體一代又一代，我們的星球幾個世紀。”

This is not the only charge the environmental group are bringing forward to the companies; Earth Island also believes that consumers are being misled by them. Consumers are told by these companies that their plastic is recyclable, therefore it is expected that if the item is placed in a recycling bin (or other facilities such as this), then the situation is taken care of. However, much of the time, this isn’t the case.

這并不是環(huán)保組織向這些公司提出的唯一要求;地球島也認為消費者被他們誤導了。這些公司告訴消費者，他們的塑料是可回收的，因此，如果物品被放入回收箱(或其他類似設(shè)施)，那么這種情況就會得到解決。然而，很多時候，情況并非如此。

Earth Island highlighted how the coasts and waterways in their base, California, have fallen victim to plastic pollution. Bill McDonald, Algalita Foundation/ Flickr. CC BY-NA-2.0

Previous studies have suggested that less than 10 percent of primary plastic produced is recycled, but the recent collapse of the recycling market could see this number decrease further. The suit argues that companies have continued to generate new “virgin plastic”, the production of which has increased 200-fold since 1950, due to its cheapness.

以前的研究表明，只有不到10%的初級塑料被回收，但最近回收市場的崩潰可能會進一步減少這一數(shù)字。該訴訟認為，由于價格低廉，公司繼續(xù)生產(chǎn)新的“原始塑料”，其產(chǎn)量自1950年以來增加了200倍。

“The Coca-Cola Company and our other defendants churn out millions of tons of plastic packaging each year and want us to believe that it is all being recycled,” Majumdar said. “It’s a misinformation campaign, similar to those used by Big Tobacco, Big Oil, and Big Pharma. Now is the time to hold Big Plastic similarly accountable.”

Majumdar說:“可口可樂公司和我們的其他被告每年生產(chǎn)數(shù)百萬噸的塑料包裝，希望我們相信這些都是回收的。”“這是一場錯誤的宣傳活動，類似于大型煙草公司、大型石油公司和大型制藥公司所使用的宣傳活動?，F(xiàn)在是讓大型塑料企業(yè)承擔同樣責任的時候了。”

All of this does not mean to dissuade customers from recycling, executive director of Earth Island Institute David Phillips, told the Guardian, rather the lawsuit is about making companies take responsibility for the waste from their products.

地球島研究所執(zhí)行主任大衛(wèi)·菲利普斯在接受《衛(wèi)報》采訪時表示，所有這些并不是要勸阻消費者不要回收垃圾，而是要讓企業(yè)對其產(chǎn)品產(chǎn)生的垃圾負責。

In response to the lawsuit, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola and Pepsi, amongst others, told IFLScience: “Plastic waste is a worldwide problem that demands thoughtful solutions. America’s beverage companies are already taking action to address the issue by reducing our use of new plastic, investing to increase the collection of our bottles so they can be remade into new bottles as intended, and collaborating with legislators and third-party experts to achieve meaningful policy resolutions.”

作為對這起訴訟的回應(yīng)，代表可口可樂和百事可樂等公司的美國飲料協(xié)會發(fā)言人告訴IFLScience:“塑料垃圾是一個全球性的問題，需要深思熟慮的解決方案。美國的飲料公司已經(jīng)采取行動來解決這個問題，減少使用新的塑料，投資增加收集我們的瓶子，這樣它們就可以按原計劃重新制成新的瓶子，并與立法者和第三方專家合作，以達成有意義的政策決議。”

Mondelēz International, one of the companies being sued by Earth Island Institute, told IFLScience that they don't comment on active litigation. However, they emphasized their commitment to making 100 percent of their packaging recycle-ready by 2025, in order to reach their ultimate goal of creating zero net waste packaging.

Mondelēz國際,一個由地球島研究所被起訴的公司,告訴IFLScience他們不積極訴訟置評。然而，他們強調(diào)，他們的承諾，準備到2025年使100%的包裝回收，以達到他們的最終目標，創(chuàng)造零凈廢物包裝。

A spokesperson continued: "We’re working hard to minimize and create new materials that can be recycled, provide recycling information on-pack and most importantly working with partners across industry, governments and NGOs to both incent consumer behavior and put the infrastructure in place to ensure packaging doesn’t end up in the environment."

一名發(fā)言人繼續(xù)說道:“我們正在努力減少和創(chuàng)造可回收的新材料，提供包裝上的回收信息，最重要的是與各行業(yè)、政府和非政府組織合作，激發(fā)消費者行為，并建立基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，確保包裝不會污染環(huán)境。”

We reached out to the other companies involved in the lawsuit (Nestlé, Mars, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Crystal Geyser, and Danone), and haven't heard back by the time of publication.

我們聯(lián)系了參與訴訟的其他公司(雀巢、瑪氏、寶潔、高露潔棕欖、水晶間歇泉和達能)，截至發(fā)稿時還沒有得到回復。