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  • Hello. This is Six Minute

  • English from BBC

  • Learning English. I'm

  • Neil. And I'm Beth.

  • "Plastic is fantastic."

  • This phrase was used a lot in the 1950s

  • when mass-produced plastic items started to become part

  • of our everyday lives.

  • The following decades saw a revolution as plastic became

  • the most commonly used material in modern life, found in everything

  • from cars to furniture to packaging.

  • Take a quick look around

  • and you'll soon see how many everyday items contain plastic.

  • But now our love of plastic is being questioned,

  • mostly thanks to climate change and pollution caused by single use plastics

  • plastic products which are designed to be used just once

  • before being thrown away. 11 million tonnes of plastic waste

  • are dumped into our oceans every year.

  • It's believed that single-use plastics make up 40%

  • of all plastic pollution globally. What's more,

  • it's not just land and water being polluted - tiny plastic pieces known

  • as microbeads have even been found inside the human body

  • and can be passed from mother to child through breast milk. And

  • because plastic comes from fossil fuels, the process

  • of making it creates problems at every stage,

  • from burning coal, to transportation, to recycling. In this programme,

  • we'll be asking: is it

  • time to live without plastic? And, as usual,

  • we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

  • But first I have a question for you, Beth.

  • One reason why plastic became so popular is that

  • it's a very flexible material.

  • It can be formed into different shapes,

  • making it useful for keeping food fresh, or holding liquid.

  • Originally, plastic was invented to replace the decreasing supply

  • of natural materials like metal, wood and glass. So which items did plastic

  • first replace? Was it:

  • a. snooker balls b. shopping bags or c. hairbrushes?

  • Hmm, I guess the first thing to be made

  • of plastic was a hairbrush.

  • OK, Beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.

  • Dr Sherri Mason is Professor of Chemistry at Penn State University

  • in the US, and a specialist in plastic pollution.

  • Her award-winning 2017 research into microplastics

  • in rivers led to the US Congress banning microbeads. Here,

  • she explains the problem of plastics to BBC

  • World Service Programme, The Real Story.

  • Plastic is synthetic and, as a consequence of that, nature

  • doesn't really know what to do with it.

  • Like, a paper bag that's sitting on the side of the road

  • it's unsightly, but within weeks

  • there are organisms in the soil

  • they can use that paper bag as a food source, right...

  • They have evolved to basically chew up that paper bag

  • and turn it back into soil,

  • turn it back into carbon and nitrogen and oxygen.

  • But with regard to plastic, because it is a synthetic material,

  • you don't have that evolution.

  • There are some organisms that can use it as a food source,

  • but they're few and far between, especially when you're talking

  • about water systems, aquatic systems and the temperatures that exist, and

  • so they can't really use it as a food source so plastic doesn't biodegrade...

  • Plastic is a synthetic material,

  • meaning that it's made by combining manmade chemicals,

  • instead of existing naturally.

  • Natural materials like paper decay and harmlessly turn back into soil

  • they biodegrade. But plastic is not like this.

  • It doesn't decay and get broken down by microbes and bacteria.

  • In fact, some plastic-eating microbes and bacteria do exist,

  • but these are few and far between, they're rare

  • they don't happen very often. It is the fact that

  • plastic doesn't decay which is responsible for the waste

  • we see in the environment. Waste

  • which is often unsightly, meaning ugly and unpleasant to

  • look at. Fortunately, help is at hand.

  • The plastic-eating microbes

  • Neil mentioned, especially one called Rhodococcus ruber,

  • have been tested by scientists

  • and seemed capable of breaking down plastic into its basic components.

  • What's also needed is an emphasis on reducing plastic production,

  • especially packaging and other single-use products, rather

  • than simply recycling. Action like this should help

  • plastic achieve its original purposeto help preserve, not pollute,

  • our natural resources. And speaking of the origins of plastic, isn't it

  • time to reveal the answer to your question, Neil?

  • Right. I asked you

  • which object made of natural materials was the first to be replaced by plastic?

  • You said it was a hairbrush which was... the wrong answer, I'm afraid Beth.

  • In fact, the first plastic-moulding machine

  • was used in 1872

  • to produce snooker balls.

  • OK, let's recap the vocabulary

  • we have learned from this programme, starting with single-use plastics

  • plastic products which are designed to be used just once,

  • before being thrown away.

  • Microbeads are tiny plastic particles found in products

  • like toothpastes and body scrubs,

  • which can enter and pollute rivers, seas and the human body.

  • The adjective synthetic describes

  • a non-natural material made by combining chemicals.

  • To biodegrade means to decay naturally in a way that is not harmful

  • to the environment. The phrase few and far between

  • means very rare or not happening very often.

  • And finally, if something is described as unsightly,

  • it's ugly and unpleasant to look at. Once again

  • our six minutes are up.

  • Join us next time for more trending topics

  • and useful vocabulary here at Six Minute

  • English. Goodbye for now.

  • Goodbye!

Hello. This is Six Minute

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Can we live without plastic? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

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    rrrz 發佈於 2024 年 02 月 18 日
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