So I throw the bottle into the blue bin, into a blue bin, in the recycling bin.

我把瓶子丟到藍色的垃圾桶、回收桶裡。

They throw it into some kind of truck all sorted nice and neat.

會有人分類好，再丟到某種卡車。

It goes to a separate place, to a plastic recycling plant, to a factory, something akin to the end of "Toy Story 3" where they're all heading to this big incinerator.

這些垃圾都會到不同的地方，塑膠回收廠、工廠、某個很像《玩具總動員 3》結尾，玩具們差點被熔解的焚化爐。

Then I imagine that there's some large machine that just squishes everything together.

在我的想像中，有個大機器會把所有的東西壓在一起。

Everything then is melted down.

然後再燃燒分解這些東西。

It's somehow melted, maybe they melt down the plastic or something.

它們融化了，或許他們熔掉了塑膠還是怎樣。

From there, it can be reshaped into sheets of plastic, like a park bench.

從那邊，它們就會被重新塑形成塑膠薄片，再製成如公園椅凳的東西。

You hear about sneakers being turned into a basketball court.

你或許聽過運動鞋被回收製成籃球場。

And that turns into new things.

或是轉變成別的東西。

Recycling!

回收！

Turns out, that's not the whole truth, especially for plastic.

結果發現，這不是全部的事實，尤其是塑膠回收的部分。

This is actually propaganda we've been spoon-fed since we were kids in commercial after commercial.

這其實是我們從小就被動接受的宣傳。

Who's behind a lot of this messaging?

是誰在這些訊息的後面？

The industry that produces plastic and the retailers who sell it to us.

是那些製造塑膠的企業與賣東西給我們的零售商。

And it makes perfect sense that they'd want to trick us into thinking we can use as much plastic as we want so long as we recycle.

可以很合理推斷出，他們想讓我們認為，只要做好回收，用多少塑膠都沒關係。

Why not pass the responsibility for a big corporate mess onto individuals like you and me.

何不把大企業的混亂，轉嫁給像你和我一般的人？

But here's the big secret.

但不能說的秘密在此。

Entire categories of papers and plastics are rarely recycled.

許多種的紙類與塑膠其實很少被回收。

Of seven types of plastic that people put into blue bins, five whole categories hardly ever get recycled at all.

人們丟進藍色回收桶的七種塑膠裡，有五種基本上不會被真的回收。

According to the E.P.A., in 2017 as little as 8.4 percent of our discarded plastic went through that magic recycling process.

根據美國國家環境保護局，2017 年裡只有 8.4% 的塑膠垃圾真的經過了那神奇的回收流程。

What happened to the rest?

那剩下的呢？

- You probably guessed it. - (Landfill)

- 你或許已經猜到了。- (垃圾掩埋場)

Minus the plastic that ends up in the ocean.

再扣除已經在海裡的塑膠垃圾。

To make it worse, we used to export a third of our recycling, a whopping 20 million tons a year, and pay countries like China to deal with it for us.

更糟的是，美國曾出口 1/3 的回收垃圾，一年高達 2,000 萬噸，付錢給中國等國家來處理。

That game's over.

這情況結束了。

China's basically told us no more followed by the Philippines and Malaysia.

中國拒收後，接著菲律賓與馬來西亞。

This recycling shutout has caused hundreds of American municipalities to cut down or totally cancel their recycling programs.

這件事使得數百美國行政區縮減或完全取消他們的回收項目。

In Eugene, Oregon, we can't even recycle our milk cartons or yogurt containers anymore.

在俄勒岡州的尤金，人們甚至連牛奶紙盒與優格容器都不能回收了。

You might be thinking, if so little is actually getting recycled, why does everything we buy seem to have that symbol on it?

你可能會開始想，如果幾乎沒有東西真的被回收，為什麼我們所買的所有東西，幾乎都有那個標章？

Great question.

好問題！

Let's ask the F.T.C.

讓我們來問問聯邦貿易委員會。

That's the entity set up to protect American consumers like you and me by setting rules on consumer labeling.

聯邦貿易委員會是設立來保護你我般的美國消費者，它們為商品標籤制定規則。

But their guidelines around recycling are a bit confusing.

但它們對於回收的標準有些令人疑惑。

Basically, to earn this symbol, 60 percent of the people who buy that product should be able to recycle it. Which seems to mean 60 percent of buyers of that product would live in a place that can break down and reuse that thing.

基本上，要獲得這標章，六成的人得有辦法回收這產品，這代表六成的買家得住在可以分解、回收這些東西的地方。

But then it gets more complicated.

接下來又更複雜了。

Like if a shower curtain package says recyclable but either the curtain or the package isn't recyclable, then that's considered deceptive.

像是，如果一個浴簾包裝上寫著可回收，但浴簾或包裝本身有其中一個不能回收，那就會被當成詐欺。

But if it's a bottle instead of a curtain and it's the cap instead of the package that's not recyclable, then it's totally fine unless the bottle has a non-recyclable wrapping or is contaminated with food.

但如果不能回收的是個瓶子而非浴簾，是瓶蓋而非包裝，那上頭的標示的完全沒問題，除非它的包裝紙是不能回收的，或裡頭裝有食物。

Is anyone else totally lost here?

有其他人也完全迷失了嗎？

With such complicated regulations, companies can get away with stamping a recyclable label on products that aren't likely to be recycled.

有這麼複雜的規章，當許多公司行號在基本上不會被回收的產品上蓋上環保標章時，他們通常可以逃過一劫。

Like this, or this, or even this.

就像這個、這個或這個。

And most of us wouldn't even know.

且大多數人根本不知道。

But somehow Kathleen Smith figured it out.

但不知怎麼地，Kathleen Smith 發現了。

Kathleen is a resident of Northern California.

Kathleen 住在北加州。

She loves coffee -- so much so that her grandkids call her Grandma Coffee.

她很愛咖啡，愛到她的孫子叫她咖啡奶奶。

And she loves being eco-friendly.

且她喜歡環保。

So someone gifted her a Keurig machine.

所以某人送她一台 Keurig 咖啡機。

The pods had that nice little recycling symbol and the box even said, "Have your cup and recycle it, too."

咖啡膠囊上頭有小小的回收標章，盒子上甚至還寫著「把杯子也一起回收吧！」

But those pods weren't actually recyclable.

但那些膠囊並非真的可回收。

She took Keurig to court to sue them for false advertising.

她一狀以廣告不實把 Keurig 告上法庭。

Keurig changed some of its labels, but then they tried to dismiss the case, essentially claiming what had happened hadn't hurt Kathleen.

Keurig 更改了一些標示，但接著他們試著打發掉這個案子，宣稱發生的事沒有對 Kathleen 造成實質的傷害。

But the court disagreed.

但法院並不同意。

Kathleen could have been hurt if she was misled and paying more for something she thought was recyclable.

如果 Kathleen 被誤導，並花了錢在她以為可以回收的物品上，那她可說是已經受到傷害。

And now a whole bunch of other Kathleens are lining up in a potential class-action suit against Keurig.

而現在，一大群像 Kathleen 般的人希望能一起對 Keurig 發起集體訴訟。

This lawsuit might eventually cause one company to clean up its act, but short of millions of crusading Kathleens and court cases, how are we going to clean up the entire plastic-pushing industry?

此訴訟或許可以使一間公司開始奉公守法，但世上的「Kathleen」那麼少，我們要如何整肅整個塑膠產業？

What we really need is the F.T.C. to write some clearer regulations and introduce costly penalties.

我們真正需要的是，請聯邦貿易委員會設立一些更清楚的規範，並增設巨額罰款。

And we need companies to stop hiding behind their green marketing ploys and actually deal with the plastic crisis they created.

且公司們不該繼續躲在他們的環保口號之後，而是好好面對它們所造成的塑膠危機。

Now you may be thinking, so should I not even bother recycling anymore?

看到這，你可能會想，那我是不是就乾脆都不要回收了？

The point of this video is not to take all the responsibility off of individuals like you and me.

這個影片的重點不是要把責任從你我身上卸除。

Please keep recycling stuff that's recyclable.

請繼續回收那些可以回收的東西。

But we've been made to feel that as long as we put our plastic in the blue bin we've done our part.

我們都以為只要把塑膠製品放到藍色回收桶，我們的責任就結束了。

And that's just not true.

但這是錯的。

The best thing we can really do is start buying as if nothing gets recycled.

最好的辦法是，買東西時，以每個東西都不能回收的標準，來審視每個商品。

Because that's pretty much what's going on.

因為這基本上就是事實。

It's ridiculous that we had to pull this out of the trash can for this video.

好扯，為了這部影片，我們竟然得把這些從垃圾桶裡挖出來。