Waste gets new lease of life

湖南 何高倫

題材：環保 體裁：新聞報道 文章詞數：329 建議用時：6分鐘

Every day a bike courier for the skincare brand Upcircle visits 25 cafes in London and collects some 100 kilograms of coffee grounds that would otherwise be thrown away.Set up six years ago by Anna Brightman and her brother Will Brightman, Upcircle reuses the coffee grounds to make beauty products,adding other ingredients.

“I wanted to do something that was closer to my heart. It was my brother who had the initial inspiration when asking what happened to the coffee grounds out of curiosity at the coffee shop, where he was going every day. He was shocked to learn the coffee was thrown into a landfill,”Anna Brightman said.Then the crazy siblings started to collect coffee grounds around London.

“Once the coffee grounds collections got going, people started to contact us with all types of by?products,”Anna said. Among these are water from making concentrated fruit juices and fading flowers that get thrown away.Upcircle pays for some of these ingredients,though the coffee grounds, for example, are free. Every year, half a million tons of coffee grounds are thrown away in the UK and the firm claims to have recycled 400 tons to date.Nevertheless, the idea of marketing a beauty product made from“trash”initially got a thumbs?down from industry insiders,Anna Brightman admitted.

She said they have to work to get the message across that“these ingredients we are working with are not old or unclean”.“Younger people are more open to the idea of the cir?cular economy. For obvious reasons, they are concerned about the future of our planet,”she added.

To save the planet's resources, entrepreneurs and designers are increasingly coming up with new ways to create value from waste. An exhibition called Waste Age at London's Design Museum showcased the use of sisal (劍麻) fibers. The Design Museum exhibition also showed chairs made from old fridges, baskets decorated with fish nets recovered from the ocean and creations from the planet's resources.

Reading Check

1.Why does Upcircle collect coffee grounds?

A.To produce food ingredients. B.To make beauty products.

C.To plant rare flowers. D.To do scientific research.

2.Who had the idea of collecting coffee grounds first?

A.A bike courier. B.Anna Brightman.

C.Will Brightman. D.A furniture designer.

3.What's the attitude of industry insiders to beauty products made from“trash”?

A.Supportive. B.Mild. C.Indifferent. D.Negative.

4.What's the last paragraph mainly about?

A.Efforts to create value from waste. B.Varieties of the planet's resources.

C.Advantages of holding exhibitions. D.Artworks from fashion designers.

Language Study

Useful expressions

set up 建立

coffee grounds 咖啡渣

out of curiosity 出于好奇心

throw into 扔進

pay for 支付

to date 到目前為止

circular economy 循環經濟

be concerned about 關心

come up with 提出