Recycling Is Broken. Here’s How We Can Fix It. Waste management||not working|||||repair| Recycling ist kaputt. Hier ist, wie wir es reparieren können. Recycling Is Broken. Here's How We Can Fix It. El reciclaje está roto. Así es como podemos arreglarlo. Il riciclo è rotto. Ecco come possiamo rimediare. 재활용이 망가졌습니다. 해결 방법은 다음과 같습니다. Recycling is kapot. Dit is hoe we het kunnen oplossen. A reciclagem está avariada. Eis como podemos resolvê-lo. Переработка отходов сломана. Вот как мы можем это исправить. Geri Dönüşüm Bozuldu. İşte Nasıl Düzeltebileceğimiz. 回收利用已经崩溃。我们该如何解决？ 回收被破壞。以下是我們如何解決這個問題。

We've all been there. You've just finished a delicious snack, empty container in hand, ||||||completed||tasty|light meal|empty container|empty container||

and you have to make a decision: Does this belong in the trash can or recycling bin? |||||||||go|||garbage||||container

Throw it away, and it's doomed to sit in a landfill for the next 500 or so years. Dispose of|||||destined||remain|||waste disposal site|||||| Si lo tiras, está condenado a permanecer en un vertedero durante los próximos 500 años.

Or throw it in the recycling bin, and it happily makes its way to a local recycling plant where O tírelo a la papelera de reciclaje y llegará a la planta de reciclaje local, donde se reciclará.

magic happens and it's repurposed into more happy containers that will make other people ||||transformed into||||vessels of joy|||||

happy one day.

You've saved the world from another piece of trash. Cue the sunshine, the rainbows, ||||||bit|||enter||bright light||colorful arcs Has salvado al mundo de otra basura. Que empiece el sol, el arco iris, Je hebt de wereld gered van weer een stuk afval. Cue de zonneschijn, de regenbogen,

and the smiling bunnies. If everyone would just put more in the recycling bin instead ||happy|the happy rabbits|||||||||||

of the trash can, the world would be a better place.

Except that's not exactly true. By throwing this in the recycling bin, you've actually but||||||placing|||||||

created more trash. You've also made it harder to recycle the stuff that can be saved, |||||||||reuse materials||||||

and basically demonstrated that recycling is broken. At least the way we do it today. ||showed||||||||||||

Luckily, we can fix it.

[OPEN]

Hey smart people, Joe here.

Why do we recycle? Because it's one of the best ways for you to have a direct impact ||||||||||||||||immediate|

on the environment. It means taking fewer raw materials out of the earth, less energy ||||||lesser quantity of|natural resources|resources||||||

and pollution to make new stuff, and most of all, less trash. |waste production||||||||||

It may seem like recycling is a product of modern environmental movements, but people ||appear|||||outcome||contemporary|ecological|||

have been recycling for as long as they've been making stuff. Before the industrial revolution, |||||||||||||manufacturing|industrial revolution

most goods and raw materials were hard to come by, so people recycled as much as they |products|||||||||||reused materials|||| de meeste goederen en grondstoffen waren moeilijk verkrijgbaar, dus mensen recyclen zoveel als ze

could at home or at work, everything from scrap metal to old clothes. ||one's residence||||||discarded materials||||apparel podría en casa o en el trabajo, desde chatarra hasta ropa vieja. kon thuis of op het werk, alles van schroot tot oude kleding.

But unlike the Olden Dayes, we need recycling today because we make so much stuff. The economic |in contrast to||past|days||||||||||||financial Pero a diferencia de antaño, hoy necesitamos reciclar porque fabricamos muchas cosas. La economía

boom after WWII created a tidal wave of quick and cheap goods. And suddenly it made more economic expansion||World War II|||large|wave||||inexpensive|||||| auge después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial creó una oleada de productos rápidos y baratos. Y de repente hizo más

economic sense to throw many old items away and just buy new ones. Unfortunately, if the ||||||goods||||purchase|||||

movie Wall-E taught us one thing, it's with a growing population and limited resources, film|Eve||showed||||||||people||restricted|

we can't continue that cycle forever. ||sustain||pattern|indefinitely

The good news is we're recycling a bigger fraction of our waste every year. In 2017, |||||||||||waste materials|||

Americans recycled 35% of our waste, and EU countries recycled 46% of theirs. people in the US||||||European Union||||the EU's

Back in 1960, 94% of solid waste generated in the US ended up in landfills. But in 2017, |||||produced||||was disposed|||waste disposal sites|| In 1960 belandde 94% van het in de VS geproduceerde vaste afval op stortplaatsen. Maar anno 2017

it was just 52%. And EU countries do even better, only sending ||||||||||sending out

a quarter of their solid waste to landfills today.

But even though we're recycling more, we're making so much waste these days that Americans

are still throwing away more total tons of waste than we used to. So what can we do?

The reason so many people recycle today is thanks to “single stream recycling”. It's |||||||||||single stream|| La razón por la que tanta gente recicla hoy en día es gracias al "reciclaje de flujo único". Es De reden waarom zoveel mensen tegenwoordig recyclen, is dankzij "single stream recycling". Zijn

easy: You put everything in one bin and send it off for someone else to figure out. In fácil: lo pones todo en una papelera y lo envías para que otro lo resuelva. En

fact, around ⅔ of people say they wouldn't recycle at all if it wasn't so easy. ||||||||||||was not||

But in order for that to work, someone has to sort all this, into this. Then it goes Pero para que eso funcione, alguien tiene que ordenar todo esto, en esto. Entonces va

from a sorting facility, it's put together with other stuff of that kind, and is sold ||organizing items|sorting center||||||||||||sold off de una instalación de clasificación, se junta con otras cosas de ese tipo, y se vende

by the ton in a global market, often shipped overseas, to be reprocessed back into raw ||||||trade|frequently|transported|internationally|||processed again||| por toneladas en un mercado global, a menudo enviadas al extranjero, para ser reprocesadas de nuevo en materias primas.

materials, which are then sold to manufacturers who make new stuff out of it. ||||||producers|||||||

We're actually pretty good at recycling materials like aluminum or glass. They can ||||||||aluminum foil||glass materials||

often be recycled back into the same stuff you started with. But many materials can really

only be recycled into lower value products. That's called “downcycling”. Paper and |||||lower value|items|||lower value recycling||

plastic are the real troublemakers here, because pretty quickly you just can't downcycle plastic materials||||culprits||||||||recycle downwards plástico son los verdaderos problemáticos aquí, porque muy rápidamente usted simplemente no puede downcycle

a material any further. |substance||additional material un material más.

It's really convenient to be able to get rid of all this stuff in one environmentally ||easy and efficient||||||dispose of|||||||friendly manner

friendly-colored bin, right? But single stream recycling has made things SO easy, if people pleasantly|friendly-colored|||||||||||||

aren't a hundred percent sure if something can actually be recycled, they just throw are not|||||||||||||

it in the bin anyway. It's called “aspirational recycling” or “wishcycling”. I'm definitely |||||||hopeful|||hopeful recycling||certainly het in ieder geval in de prullenbak. Het wordt 'aspirationele recycling' of 'wishcycling' genoemd. ik ben zeker

guilty of doing this and I bet you are too. responsible for|||||||||

And as a result, according to the National Waste and Recycling Association, about 25 |||||||||||Association|

percent of the stuff we try to recycle is so contaminated it just goes straight to the ||||||||||polluted||||||

landfill. That contamination comes in the form of things that can't be recycled, like waste disposal site||pollution|arrives||||||||||

plastic bags, which just clog up the machines that sort this stuff. Yeah, you thought you |plastic bags|||block||||||||||| bolsas de plástico, que sólo atascan las máquinas que clasifican estas cosas. Sí, pensaste que plastic zakken, die de machines die dit soort dingen sorteren gewoon verstoppen. Ja, je dacht dat je

were being nice and tidy by putting your recycling in a bag, but what you actually did was get ||kind||neat|||||||a container||||||| que estabas siendo amable y ordenado al poner tu reciclaje en una bolsa, pero lo que en realidad hiciste fue conseguir waren aardig en netjes door je recycling in een zak te doen, maar wat je eigenlijk deed was krijgen

that whole bag thrown away. |||discarded| toda esa bolsa tirada.

Or diapers. People are actually trying to recycle diapers. Used ones. That is just wrong |diapers||||attempting|||||||||

on so many levels. |||aspects a muchos niveles.

But a lot of the contamination comes from things that technically can be recycled, if

they weren't so dirty. And our food container is a perfect example here. Waste plastic like |were not||unclean|||||||||||| ze waren niet zo vies. En onze voedselcontainer is hier een perfect voorbeeld van. Plastic afval zoals

this gets ground up into tiny pieces and sold by the ton. But when I throw this in the recycling |is||||||||||||||||||

bin covered in food residue (or with foil lid still on) it all gets ground up together. ||||leftover food|||metal cover|cover||||||||

That food and metal contamination can ruin the whole batch, because before this plastic ||||pollution||spoil|||group of items||||

can be repurposed into something new, it has to be a certain purity, and in many cases ||||||||||||quality or standard||||

it's so expensive to clean and purify it that the recycling companies can't make ||costly||||refine|||||recycling firms|| het is zo duur om het schoon te maken en te zuiveren dat de recyclingbedrijven het niet kunnen maken

money on it, and it just ends up being thrown away. Greasy pizza boxes? Contaminated garbage. ||||||results|||||oily|pizza boxes|pizza containers||waste material dinero en ello, y acaba tirado a la basura. ¿Cajas de pizza grasientas? Basura contaminada.

Paper drink cups? They've actually got a thin plastic or wax lining that most recyclers ||drink containers||||||||wax coating|coating|||recycling facilities ¿Vasos de papel? En realidad tienen un fino revestimiento de plástico o cera que la mayoría de los recicladores

can't separate out, so they get thrown away most of the time too. Which really makes you |distinguish|||||||||||||||

think…

Where was I? Oh yeah. Modern recycling became so widespread because countries like China |||||||||common practice||||

were there to buy our reusable trash. But trying to recycle contaminated paper and plastic |||||recyclable|||||||||

was creating a whole new environmental problem in these countries, and in 2018 China said |causing||||||||||||

“nope!” and they banned their recyclers from buying our contaminated plastic and paper. no|||prohibited||||purchasing|||||

And other countries like Malaysia have since followed their lead. ||||Malaysia|||emulated|| Otros países, como Malasia, han seguido su ejemplo.

China was the biggest buyer of the world's reusable trash, so this has completely messed ||||purchaser||||||||||disrupted the flow

up the economics of recycling across Europe and the US. Now more stuff is going from recycling ||economic aspects||||European continent||||||||||

centers straight into landfills and some cities have even stopped recycling altogether. directs|||||||||ceased||completely

The very thing that makes single stream recycling so successful–how easy it is for us–has |||||||||effective||||||| Juist datgene dat single-stream recycling zo succesvol maakt – hoe gemakkelijk is het voor ons – heeft

become its Achilles heel, because we've made our recycling so dirty that it just became ||weak point|weakness|||||||||||

more trash.

So how do we fix it? Well, it's on us. The most important thing we can do is only recycle То як нам це виправити? Ну, це залежить від нас. Найважливіше, що ми можемо зробити - це переробити

what can actually be recycled.

Plastic is pretty confusing stuff. Not only because it used to be oil, but now it's |||difficult to understand|||||||||petroleum product|||

solid, and you can carry milk in it… (aside: I'll figure that out someday) but also because |||||liquid dairy|||parenthetical remark|I will|figure out|||at some point|||

there's more than one type of plastic. Luckily, each type is labeled with a “resin identification ||||category|||||||marked|||resin|resin identification er is meer dan één soort plastic. Gelukkig is elk type gelabeld met een "harsidentificatie"

code” that helps you figure out what to do with it.

Numbers 1, 2 and 5 have a pretty good market in the U.S. for recycling. Water and soda Numerals|||||||||United States||||||soft drinks

bottles, milk jugs, laundry detergent, yogurt cups and stuff like that are mostly made of containers||containers|laundry products|cleaning agent|plastic containers||||||||| flessen, melkkannen, wasmiddel, yoghurtbekers en dat soort dingen zijn meestal gemaakt van

these plastics. But they're only recyclable if they're clean! You don't need to wash |||||able to be recycled||||||||clean them

it with the dishes, just rinse out any food, and remove any labels or foil and these are |||the dishes||rinse|||||||stickers||aluminum wrap|||

good to go

Numbers 4, 6 and 7 are things like squeezable bottles, plastic bags, and many of the disposable |||||able to be squeezed|||containers|||||single-use

plates and cups and takeout containers you get. These items are typically sent to a landfill dishes||||takeout food|||||||usually|discarded|||waste disposal site borden en kopjes en afhaalcontainers die je krijgt. Deze items worden meestal naar een stortplaats gestuurd

and not recycled at all.

Number 3 is plastic like PVC pipes, and this is just not recycled. I don't know why you'd ||||polyvinyl chloride|tubes|||||||||||

have a bunch of pipes around unless you're a plumber, but just don't put any PVC in |||||||||pipe specialist|||||||

your recycling!

Glass and aluminum? Give ‘em a rinse and these are pretty much good to go. But try ||||them||||||||||||

not to break your glass if you can help it. ||shatter||||||| no rompas el vaso si puedes evitarlo.

As for paper? Used napkins or greasy cardboard like pizza boxes usually can't be recycled. ||||used napkins|||pizza boxes|||||||

But they can be composted, if that's available where you live. Paper cups and to-go containers ||||broken down|||accessible||||||||| Maar ze kunnen worden gecomposteerd, als dat beschikbaar is waar je woont. Papieren bekers en meeneembakjes

with those plastic linings? More and more places are starting to recycle these using |||coatings||||||beginning to||||

new technology, but before you put them in the bin, check to see what the guidelines |||||||||||||||rules or instructions

are where you live.

In fact, the best thing you can do in general is to learn what can be recycled where YOU |||||||||overall|||||||||

live. There's no perfect set of rules I can give you, because the rules are different

everywhere. So go to the website of your local recycler, or even call them on the phone if in all places|||||local recycler's site||||recycling center|||||||telephone|

talking to actual humans is your thing, and find out. You can also look for special recycling ||real|||||||||||||| hablar con personas reales es lo tuyo, e infórmate. También puedes buscar reciclaje especial

drop-off locations for odd items like batteries or styrofoam. ||places||unusual|||batteries||foam packaging material drop-off locaties voor vreemde items zoals batterijen of piepschuim.

And if you're ever in doubt if something can be recycled, don't put it in the recycling |||||uncertainty|||||||||||

bin. I know it feels weird, but sometimes you really are better off just throwing it |||||||at times|||||||| papelera. Sé que es raro, pero a veces es mejor tirarlo...

away than contaminating a whole truck-worth of recycling with six months worth of plastic ||polluting|||truckload|load|||||six months'||| weg dan het vervuilen van een hele vrachtwagen aan recycling met zes maanden aan plastic

bags you have stashed under the kitchen sink. I know that's where you're hiding them. |||hidden|||cooking area|basin cabinet||||||concealing| bolsas que tienes escondidas bajo el fregadero de la cocina. Sé que es ahí donde las escondes. tassen die je onder de gootsteen hebt verstopt. Ik weet dat je ze daar verbergt.

Most of us have a constant stream of packaged goods coming into our lives, designed to be ||||||||pre-packaged|||||daily existence|intended to be||

used one time, and thrown away. Perhaps the best thing you can do is know what you can

recycle before you buy stuff, and don't buy stuff that you can't recycle.

The recycling symbol is one of the most recognizable logos ever created. It was designed in 1970 ||logo||||||easily identified|symbols||||||

to honor the very first Earth Day. The three arrows in this environmental Möbius strip |celebrate||||||||arrows||||loop|symbol para celebrar el primer Día de la Tierra. Las tres flechas de esta tira de Möbius medioambiental ter ere van de allereerste Dag van de Aarde. De drie pijlen in deze milieuvriendelijke Möbius-strip

are now taken to represent three words: Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle. ||considered||||||Re|||

Today, we tend to focus mostly on the third one: Recycle. But since that first Earth Day, ||usually||||||||||||||

recycling was always intended to be just one part of this three-step process. To truly |||||||||||||||really

get rid of waste, and to keep our environment as clean as we can, recycling just isn't

enough on its own.

We also have to reduce the amount of waste we create in the first place, by either buying

items with less packaging, or asking manufacturers to consider waste when they design their packages |||packaging materials|||||take into account||||create||containers

and products.

And we should reuse whatever we can too. [beat] Well, maybe not… whatever we can. |||use again|anything||||pause||||||

Recycling alone can't solve our waste problem. And I want to put something into perspective ||||||||||||||context

to prove that to you. Since plastic was invented, 8.3 billion metric tons of new plastics have |demonstrate|||||||created||metric tons||||| om dat aan u te bewijzen. Sinds de uitvinding van plastic is er 8,3 miljard ton aan nieuwe plastics

been produced. And 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste has been generated. Only |created|||||||||||

9% of that has been recycled, ever. While 79% of it has piled up in landfills or the ||||||||||accumulated|||||

environment. According to researchers, 4 to 12 million

metric tons of plastic waste entered oceans in 2010 alone. And by 2050, there will be ||||||the oceans|||||||

12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills. That amount is 35,000 times as massive as

the Empire State Building. |state|Empire|

And there's no recycling system or technology imaginable that can get us out from under |||||||conceivable|||||||

all that weight. But we can choose to stop burying ourselves. |||||have the ability to||||hiding|our own selves

Stay curious.