VOA慢速英语2019--铝罐还是塑料瓶？

Aluminum¹ Cans or Plastic Bottles?

The bottled water industry is increasing efforts to replace plastic bottles with more easily recycled aluminum containers, or cans. The effort follows public anger about reports that plastic water bottles are severely² polluting the world’s oceans.

The French Danone company is the latest to replace some plastic water bottles with aluminum cans. Competitors like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle have also started selling water in aluminum cans.

Replacing plastic water bottles that pollute the seas with recyclable aluminum cans should be an easy way to help the environment, right?

Maybe not.

Aluminum cans might result in less ocean waste, but they also come with their own cost to the environment. The production of an aluminum can is estimated to release two times as much carbon dioxide into the air as a plastic bottle.

“That’s the dilemma³ you’re going to have to choose between,” said Ruben Griffioen, an official at beermaker Heineken. He said his company was trying to reduce both plastic waste and carbon dioxide release.

The Environmental Protection Agency says aluminum cans have about 68 percent recycled content compared to just 3 percent for plastic bottles in the United States. As a result, aluminum is widely seen as the better choice for the environment.

Martin Barrow is with the non-profit organization Carbon Trust. He said, “The aluminum industry can play on the fact that its product is infinitely⁴ recyclable, and they’re right.”

However, Barrow said, “aluminum uses huge amounts of electricity and it’s also got some chemical releases of greenhouse gas emissions⁶.”

Never be that clean

Aluminum has a larger carbon footprint in production because of the power needed in the smelting⁸ process. But, the metal containers also are lighter⁹ than glass or plastic bottles. Also, aluminum cans require less electric power to cool the liquid they contain.

“It’s a complex picture,” said Simon Lowden of Pepsico. “You have to think about transport, secondary packaging, time in store, all those considerations come into play.”

Bruce Karas of Coca-Cola North America agreed. He said, “There’s a mix, there are some things that are not that desirable, but if you have five good things and one that isn’t, we’ll all have to make decisions.”

“It’ll never be that clean,” he added.

Plastic strikes back

Bottled water is a $19 billion industry. Although its use of cans is increasing, experts say cans are unlikely to completely replace plastic bottles.

Aluminum is costlier¹⁰ than plastic so canned drinks mean higher prices for buyers. Another major consideration is user convenience – cans stay open while bottles can be reclosed.

Karas said Coca-Cola is still looking at how the buying public reacts to canned water. The company plans to test the market. Later this year, it will carry out a limited launch of its water product, Dasani, in aluminum cans and aluminum bottles that can be reclosed.

Other companies, including Danone and Pepsi, are testing new plastics that are biodegradable or easier to recycle.

There is another possible barrier to ending the use of plastic water bottles: There may not be enough cans to go around. Beer and wine makers¹¹ are now also increasingly using aluminum.

An official with Ball, the world’s top supplier of aluminum cans, said, “This is a level of growth that we haven’t seen in a long time.”

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

recycle - v. to make something new from something that has been used before

dilemma - n. a situation in which one has to make a difficult choice

greenhouse gas emission⁵ - phrase, the release of gas that contributes to the warming of the earth's atmosphere by absorbing infrared¹² radiation

carbon footprint - n. is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced directly and in directly

smelt⁷ - v. to melt rock that contains metal in order to get the metal out

convenience - n. a quality or situation that makes something easy

biodegradable - adj. capable of being slowly destroyed and broken into very small parts by natural process

1 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

2 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

3 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

4 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

5 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

6 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

7 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

8 smelting   

n.熔炼v.熔炼，提炼（矿石）( smelt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a method of smelting iron 一种炼铁方法
• Fire provided a means of smelting ores. 火提供了熔炼矿石的手段。 来自辞典例句

9 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

10 costlier   

adj.昂贵的( costly的比较级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather. 鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。 来自互联网
• Disagreements among creditors can be costlier still. 债权人之间的分歧会加大重组的费用。 来自互联网

11 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。