大学英语六级考试(Cet6)阅读理解辅导材料(18)_大学英语阅读

大学英语六级考试(Cet6)阅读理解辅导材料(18)

　　A more surprising point is made by Friends of the Earths waste campaigner Julian Kirby, who points out that because it is inert in landfill, plastic waste buried in the ground is a counterintuitive way of sequestering carbon and so avoiding it adding to global warming and climate change.

　　This focus on carbon and climate change, however, ignores the very reasons plastic bags and plastic packaging generally first gripped the public imagination namely that it is such a highly visible result of our throwaway society.

　　Wales, Ireland and other countries have opted to levy a tax on plastic bags to deter their use but making deeper cuts to plastic waste will need other options too.

　　levy a tax on 对征税 deter v. 制止;阻止

　　Many ethical products from sandwiches to nappy bags have switched to biodegradable plastics, made either from natural products such as cornstarch or by using an additive that helps break down the plastic. However, Turner suggests this will remain a niche, because the process is expensive and in his words is destroying a resource that could be recycled.

　　break down 分解

　　Recycling plastic is particularly hard because there are so many types and because it is difficult to remove contamination. Increasing recycling is, though, one of the two areas focused on by the plastics industry. It estimates that if every council in the UK operated at the rates achieved by the best local authority for each type of plastic PET bottles, cartons, trays, bags and so on the country could raise total plastic recycling from 23% to 45%. On-the-go recycling currently almost nonexistent also needs to be dramatically improved, said Turner.