吸管之戰：殲滅海洋廢棄塑料

勞拉·帕克

Of the eight million tons of plastic trash that flow every year into the world’s oceans， the plastic drinking straw is surely not a top contributor to all that tonnage1.

Yet this small， slender2 tube， utterly unnecessary for most beverage consumption， is at the center of a growing environmental campaign aimed at convincing people to stop using straws to help save the oceans.

Small and lightweight， straws often never make it into recycling bins; the evidence of this failure is clearly visible on any beach. And although straws amount to a tiny fraction3 of ocean plastic， their size makes them one of the most insidious4 polluters because they entangle5 marine animals and are consumed6 by fish. Video of scientists removing a straw embedded7 in a sea turtle’s nose went viral8 in 2015.

“If you have the opportunity to make this choice and not to use a plastic straw， this can help keep this item off our beaches and raise awareness on plastic in the ocean，” says Jenna Jambeck， the University of Georgia engineering professor whose ground-breaking9 2015 study was the first measurement of how much plastic debris10 enters the ocean every year.

Straws are the latest on an expanding list of individual plastic products being banned， taxed， or boycotted in an effort to curb seaborn plastic trash before it outweighs fish， a calculation projected11 to come true by 2050， according to one study.

Last fall， California became the first state in the nation to ban plastic bags， joining a host of nations that already do so， including Kenya， China， Bangladesh， Rwanda， and Macedonia. France not only banned plastic bags， it has become the first country to also ban plastic plates， cups， and utensils12， beginning in 2020. San Francisco banned polystyrene， including Styrofoam cups and food containers， packaging peanuts， and beach toys. And in Rhode Island， the release of celebratory balloons is being targeted by activists， after almost 2，200 balloons were picked up on the shores of Aquidneck Island13 in the last four years.

The plastics industry opposes bans at every turn14. Bag manufacturers have persuaded lawmakers in Florida， Missouri， Idaho， Arizona， Wisconsin， and Indiana to pass legislation outlawing15 the bag bans.

Keith Christman， managing director for plastic markets for the American Chemistry Council， says the industry also will oppose any efforts to outlaw plastic straws.

Bans of individual products often come with “unintended consequences，” Christman argues. Replacement products can cause more environmental harm than plastic products there were banned， he says. In some cases， products advertised as biodegradable16 sometimes turn out not to be. Worse， consumer behavior sometimes changes. When San Francisco banned Styrofoam products， he says， an audit of litter showed that while Styrofoam cup litter dropped， paper cup litter increased.

“What we really need is good waste management structure in countries that are the largest source of this challenge，” he says. “Rapidly developing countries in Asia don’t have that structure.”

What sets the anti-straw campaign apart from other efforts—and why the anti-straw campaign may succeed—is that activists are not seeking to change laws or regulations. They are merely asking consumers to change their habits and say no to straws.

Once found mostly in soda fountains17 of the 1930s， straws have become one of the most ubiquitous18 unnecessary products on the planet. No global usage figures exist， but Americans alone use 500 million straws daily， according to the National Park Service. Except for people with medical needs， straws are not needed to consume beverages or water.

“Ten years ago， straws weren’t everywhere. It used to be at a bar， you’d get a straw. Now you order a damn glass of ice water and they put a straw in it，” says Douglas Woodring， founder of the Ocean Recovery Alliance， a Hong Kong-based group that is working to reduce ocean trash. “Part of it， I suspect， came from people’s fear of germs.”

If fear of germs drove the straw use globally into the billions， the eight-minute video of a four-inch section of straw being removed from a Costa Rican sea turtle’s nostril may have turned the tide19. The video is painful to watch， and has been viewed more than 11 million times on YouTube.

Linda Booker， a North Carolina filmmaker， whose documentary， Straws， is making the rounds of the spring film festival circuit20 in the United States， says the turtle video， in part， inspired her to take on straws as a film project. She interviewed the scientists and included them in her film.

“I believe a lot of the catalyst for these straw campaigns was the video of the straw in the turtle’s nose，” she says.

全世界每年都會有800萬噸塑料垃圾漂流入海。其中，塑料吸管并非占比最大。

在飲用大多數飲料時，并不需要這種纖細的小管子。而日益增多的環保運動卻將目光聚焦在這種小管子上，這些運動旨在倡導人們不用吸管，保護海洋環境。

由于吸管又小又輕，通常它們不會被扔進回收箱。無論在哪片海灘，這種情形都隨處可見。雖然在海洋塑料垃圾中，吸管只是總量的冰山一角，但是，纖細的外形卻使得它們成為眾多海洋污染物中最為致命的潛在“殺手”之一。因為它們可以將海洋動物團團纏繞，魚類還可能將它們吞入腹中。2015年，科學家們從海龜鼻子中拔出吸管的一段視頻就曾走紅。

同年，佐治亞大學工程專業教授詹娜·詹貝克進行了一項開創性的研究，首次測定了每年流入海洋中塑料垃圾的數量。她說：“如果能夠選擇不用塑料吸管，便可以使海灘免受吸管污染，并加強人們對海洋塑料污染的防范意識。”

一項研究預測，到2050年，海洋中塑料垃圾的重量將會超過魚類的重量。為防止此事的發生，人們制訂了一份擴展清單，對塑料消費品采取禁止、征稅以及抵制等措施，吸管是最新列入此單的。

去年秋天，加利福尼亞州率先在美國禁止使用塑料袋。在此之前，很多國家（包括肯尼亞、中國、孟加拉國、盧旺達和馬其頓）就已經實施了禁令。另外，法國不僅禁止使用塑料袋，還將于2020年成為第一個禁止使用塑料盤子、杯子和其他塑料器皿的國家。舊金山也禁止使用聚苯乙烯制品，其中包括泡沫聚苯乙烯杯和食品容器、包裝用填充物和沙灘玩具。還有羅德島，在過去四年中，人們在羅德島海岸邊撿到了將近2200個氣球！所以后來，當地一些激進分子會針對那些釋放慶祝氣球的行為進行抨擊。

然而，塑料加工企業卻三番五次地反對這些禁令。并且塑料袋生產商們已經說服佛羅里達州、密蘇里州、愛達荷州、亞利桑那州、威斯康星州和印第安納州的立法工作者通過立法來取消“禁塑令”。

美國化學理事會塑料市場部執行總監基思·克里斯特曼表示，塑料行業也將反對任何試圖取締塑料吸管的行為。

克里斯特曼認為，對個別產品實施禁令，通常會帶來“意想不到的后果”。他說，和遭到禁止的塑料制品相比，它們的替代產品可能會對環境造成更大的傷害。在某些情況下，自詡為可生物降解的產品有時結果卻和宣傳信息大相徑庭。更糟的是，有時消費者行為會發生改變。 他舉例說，在舊金山禁止使用泡沫聚苯乙烯產品之后，檢查垃圾問題時發現：雖然泡沫塑料杯的數量減少了，但是紙杯的數量卻有所增加。

他補充道：“我們真正需要的是如何在廢棄塑料泛濫的國家建立有效的垃圾管理架構。亞洲國家雖飛速發展，但這種框架卻尚未建立起來。”

反吸管運動和其他運動的不同（當然也是該運動可能取得成功的原因）在于組織者并沒有嘗試著去修改法律或法規，而是僅僅倡導消費者改變消費習慣，抵制吸管。

上世紀30年代，吸管主要出現在冷飲店中。時至今日，它已遍布世界各地，但卻成為世界上最無必要的一種產品。美國國家公園管理局稱，雖然目前沒有關于吸管的全球使用數據，但僅在美國，每天就消費掉5億支吸管。實際上，除了有醫療需求的人外，不管是喝水還是其他飲料都用不上吸管。

位于香港的海洋復蘇聯盟是一家致力于減少海洋垃圾的組織，該組織創始人道格拉斯·伍德林說：“十年前，吸管還并不是隨處可見。那時，如果你在酒吧消費的話，酒吧會給你一支吸管。但如今，即便你買一杯普通的冰水，服務員也會在杯子里放一支吸管。我想其中的一個原因大概來自于人們對于細菌的擔憂。”

如果說，是人們對細菌的恐懼導致全球吸管的使用量達到數十億的話，那么那段從哥斯達黎加海龜鼻孔中拔出四英寸吸管的八分鐘視頻，可能將會扭轉這一局面。雖然觀看這段視頻會讓人心如刀絞，但它在YouTube上已經被播放了超過1100萬次。

目前，紀錄片《吸管》正在美國春季電影節巡回演播，它的制片人是來自北卡羅萊納州的琳達·布克。該制片人說，將吸管作為電影主題，部分靈感正是來自于那段海龜的視頻。她采訪了視頻里的科學家，并將他們拍進了她的電影。

她說：“我認為海龜鼻孔里的那支吸管成了許多反吸管運動的催化劑。”

（譯者單位：廣西科技大學鹿山學院）