A ban from Beijing on importing low-grade waste will affect roughly half the plastic that the UK currently sends to China for recycling, according to the waste industry.
据废物处理行业估计，英国目前出口到中国供回收利用的塑料垃圾将有一半左右会受到中国禁止进口低等级废物的影响。
Britain has become dependent on China for low-cost recycling to meet its environmental targets and has shipped 2.7m tons of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012, according to a report by Greenpeace, the environmental campaign group.
根据环保组织绿色和平(Greenpeace)的一份报告，英国在低成本回收处理垃圾以满足其环境目标方面依赖中国，自2012年以来，英国向中国内地和香港出口了270万吨塑料垃圾。
But in July, China told the World Trade Organization that it intended to halt the import of 24 grades of plastic, textiles and paper, which it said were often contaminated with dirty or hazardous material. Plastics, including PVC and polyethylene, will be covered by the ban, as well as mixed batches of paper and cardboard.
但今年7月，中国知会世界贸易组织(WTO)，将停止进口废弃的塑料、纺织品和纸张等24类废物，中国表示，这些废物经常被肮脏或危险材料污染。禁令将涵盖聚氯乙烯(PVC)和聚乙烯(PE)等塑料以及各种纸张和硬纸板。
The consequences could be dramatic both for waste companies and local councils, according to the minutes of a meeting in September between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and representatives of the industry.
9月英国环境、食品与农村事务部(Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)与该行业代表召开了一次会议，根据会议纪要，中国的禁令对英国废物回收公司和地方市政当局都可能带来巨大影响。
The exchanges, obtained through a freedom of information request by Greenpeace, show that as much as 50 per cent of plastic waste exports will not meet China’s new criteria.
绿色和平组织依据信息自由法申请获得的会议内容显示，英国多达50%的塑料垃圾出口将不符合中国的新标准。
“Tonnages involved would be in the region of 70,000 to 80,000 per quarter of plastic packaged waste?.?.?.?No alternative markets are available for these quantities of waste?.?.?.?Storage levels within the UK will become tight quickly,” according to a handout from Defra circulated at the meeting.
环境、食品与农村事务部在会上发放的一份材料称：“涉及的塑料废物每季度将在7万吨至8万吨之间……其他市场无法接收这么多的废物……英国境内的储存能力将迅速吃紧。”
In an email thread between the meeting’s attendees, released as part of the FOI, an employee of IWPP, a paper waste disposal company, said: “I simply cannot stress enough the impact this will have on the industry supply chain if these changes are brought in their current form.”
依据“信息自由法”公布的材料还包括与会者相互之间的邮件往来，其中废纸处理公司IWPP的一名员工表示：“我一点都不夸张地说，行业供应链将受到极大的影响，如果真的发生那样的变化的话。”
In the same thread, an employee of 360 Environmental, a waste consultancy company, claimed that the UK exported 264,729 tonnes of plastic to China last year, more than a third of total plastic exports.
废物处理咨询公司360 Environmental的一名员工在邮件中声称，去年英国向中国出口了26.4729万吨塑料，超过塑料出口总量的三分之一。
That waste may now need to be “landfilled, incinerated or stockpiled here”, said Libby Peake, senior policy adviser for think-tank Green Alliance.
智库Green Alliance高级政策顾问利比?皮克(Libby Peake)表示，今后这些废物可能需要在国内“填埋、焚烧或堆放”。
Adam Read, a spokesman for Suez, a waste processing company with 70 local authority clients, said: “Over decades, market forces have pushed re-processing activity to Asia, but we are now seeing the tap can be turned off.
拥有70个地方市政当局客户的废物处理公司苏伊士(Suez)发言人亚当?瑞德(Adam Read)表示：“几十年来，市场力量将废物再处理业务推向亚洲，但我们现在看到这条路可能被封锁。”
“The changes in China should be a wake-up call for the UK government to re-shore this valuable activity by setting clear, high-reaching sustainability ambitions that closely align industrial and environmental policy.”
“中国的变化应该给英国政府敲响警钟，提醒他们通过制定清晰、可持续并使行业政策和环境政策相契合的远大目标，让这块有价值的业务回流本国。”
Suez, whose clients include the cities of Bristol and Aberdeen, has been exporting to alternative EU and Asian markets since April as well as exploring the possibility of using the material for fuel and chemical production, he added.
苏伊士公司的客户中包括布里斯托市和阿伯丁市。瑞德补充称，自今年4月以来，该公司一直在出口到其他的欧盟和亚洲市场，同时在探讨把这些垃圾用于生产燃料和化学品的可能性。
Some companies, such as Veolia, which manages the waste of local authorities including Haringey and Birmingham, already process all the recycling they collect in the UK and Europe.
一些公司已自己处理它们从英国和欧洲回收的所有垃圾，例如处理哈林盖和伯明翰等地垃圾的威立雅(Veolia)。
Local councils are already trying to adapt. Local authorities in Norfolk, which collectively send 38,000 tonnes of material to Asia each year, said they were altering the way they sorted their materials in an effort to meet the new Chinese grading requirements and had invested ￡8 million over the past ten years in their systems.
地方当局已在努力适应新情况。诺福克地方市政当局每年向亚洲出口3.8万吨垃圾，他们表示，正改变垃圾分类的方法，以达到中国的垃圾分级新要求，过去10年他们已向垃圾处理系统投资800万英镑。
Other key destinations for UK recycling exports are Vietnam, which imported 32,000 tonnes of plastic waste last year, and India, which imported the same amount over the same period, according to Greenpeace research.
根据绿色和平组织的研究报告，英国回收垃圾出口的另外两个重要目的地是越南和印度，越南去年从英国进口3.2万吨塑料垃圾，印度同期的进口量相当。
Ms Peake of Green Alliance added: “In the short term, other markets, including Vietnam and India, will be able to pick up some of the slack, but these will soon be saturated and, in the long term, these countries also will not want to be saddled with poor quality material.”
Green Alliance的皮克补充称：“短期而言，其他市场，包括越南和印度，能够接收一部分，但这些市场将很快饱和，长期而言，这些国家同样不会希望承接低质量的垃圾。”
Defra said: “We are continuing to work with the waste industry and the Environment Agency to understand the impact across the sector of the Chinese government’s proposed restrictions on waste imports.
环境、食品与农村事务部表示：“我们正继续与废物处理行业以及英国环境局(Environment Agency)合作，以了解中国政府拟议的废物进口限制对整个行业的影响。”
“We are also looking at ways to process more of our recycling at home as part of our resources and waste strategy.”
“作为我们的资源和垃圾处理战略的一部分，我们也在想办法在国内处理更多的回收垃圾。”

The UK announced in last month’s Budget a review of taxes or charges on single-use plastics such as takeaway cartons and packaging in a bid to reduce the impact of such waste on marine life, a problem highlighted in the BBC programme Blue Planet.
在上月公布的《预算报告》中，英国宣布对单一用途塑料的税赋或收费进行评估，例如外卖餐盒和包装，旨在减少这类垃圾对海洋生物的影响，英国广播公司(BBC)的节目《蓝色星球》(Blue Planet)深入地反映了这个问题。
Meanwhile, Michael Gove, the environment secretary, is reviewing the potential use of a deposit return scheme for bottles, and this week called for the aid department to increase spending on cutting plastic pollution in oceans.
与此同时，英国环境大臣迈克尔?戈夫(Michael Gove)正对可能引入塑料瓶押金退还机制展开评估，本周他呼吁援助部门加大在减少海洋塑料污染方面的支出。
The consequences of the new ban are already being felt. There have been 39 arrests so far in China for attempts to import illegal waste, while in Hong Kong, paper waste is being piled up in the streets because it can no longer be taken to the Chinese mainland.
中国垃圾进口禁令的影响已开始显现。迄今中国内地有39人因试图进口非法垃圾被捕；在香港，废纸堆积在街头，因为这些垃圾无法再进入中国内地。