VOA新闻杂志2022--印度全面禁止使用一次性塑料制品

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India Starts Nationwide Single-Use Plastic Ban

India banned some single-use or disposable plastic products recently as part of a plan to slowly discontinue the use of the material in the South Asian nation.

For its first step in the plan, the federal government has identified 19 plastic products that are not very useful but have a high possibility of becoming waste. It is illegal to produce, import, keep, give them out, or sell them.

These products include cups, straws, and ice cream sticks made from plastic. Some disposable plastic bags will also be banned and replaced with thicker, reusable ones.

Thousands of other plastic products, like bottles for water or bags for foods like chips, are not covered by the ban. But the federal government has set targets for manufacturers to be responsible for recycling or disposing of them after their use.

Plastic manufacturers had appealed to the government to delay the ban. They said inflation¹ and possible job losses are a concern. But India's federal environment minister Bhupender Yadav told the media at a meeting in New Delhi that the ban had been in progress for a year.

"Now that time is up," he said.

This is not the first time that India has considered a plastic ban. Previous bans have centered in some areas of the country with different degrees of success.

A nationwide ban that includes not just the use of plastic, but also its production and importation was a "definite boost²," said Satyarupa Shekhar. A "definite boost" means a clear improvement. Shekhar is the Asia-Pacific area adviser³ for the organization Break Free from Plastic.

Most plastic is not recycled around the world. The materials pollute the world's oceans, affect wildlife, and turn up in drinking water. And scientists are still trying to understand the risks from very small pieces of plastic, known as microplastics.

The country's waste management system cannot handle its growing cities and villages. It means that much of the waste is not recycled and ends up polluting the environment. Our World in Data found that nearly 13 million metric tons of plastic waste were either thrown out or not recycled by the nation of nearly 1.4 billion people in 2019.

Ravi Agarwal is the director of Toxic⁴ Link, a New Delhi-based group that supports waste management. Agarwal said the ban was a "good beginning," but its success will depend on how well it is carried out. The actual enforcement of the law will be in the hands of individual states and cities.

Government officials said they banned products that could be replaced by other materials, such as bamboo spoons, plantain trays, and wooden ice-cream sticks. But in the days leading up to the ban, many food sellers said they did not fully⁵ understand.

Moti Rahman sells vegetables in New Delhi. He said customers would carefully pick out fresh summer produce before he put them in a plastic bag.

Rahman said that he agrees with the ban. But he added that if plastic bags are banned without a cost-effective replacement⁶, his business will be affected⁷.

Rahman said, "After all, plastic is used in everything."

Words in This Story

disposable – adj. made to be used once or only a few times: made to be thrown away after one use or several uses

recycle – v. to send (used newspapers, bottles, or cans) to a place where they are made into something new

management – n. the people who make decisions about a business, department, or sports team

customer – n. someone who buys goods or services from a business

1 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。

2 boost   

n.鼓励，激励，提高；v.鼓励，使增强信心

参考例句：

• This will be a great boost to the economy.这对于经济发展将是一个巨大的促进。
• These changes will help to boost share prices.这些变化将有助于提高股票价格。

3 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。