1 . Coca-Cola announced on Wednesday that it will begin transitioning (转变) from green to clear plastic on Aug. I to increase the material’s likelihood of being remade into new beverage (饮料) bottles. The beverage giant is committed to making 100% of its packaging recyclable by 2025 and using at least 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030.

Sprite, an important brand of Coca-Cola, currently uses plastic bottles containg a green additive called Polyethylene Telephthalate (PET). These bottles are commonly changed into single-use items like clothing and carpeting that can’t be recycled into new PET bottles.

“Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” said Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, which is working with Coca-Cola to improve bottle-to-bottle recycling. “When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic.”

Sprite, the popular lemon-flavored soft drink, which first hit shelves in 1961, is also getting a new logo and packaging design. Sprite’s packaging will keep the brand’s recognizable green colour and include noticeable “Recycle Me” message. Other drinks that use green bottles, including Fresca, Seagram’s, and Mello Yello, will also transition to clear packaging in the coming months.

Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been criticized for contributing to the world’s plastic pollution. In 2021, both companies ranked as the world’s top plastic polluters for the 4th consecutive (连续的) year by the environmental organization Break Free From Plastic. Global beach cleanups were carried out by more than 11,000 volunteers in 45 countries to identify the most common plastic polluters. Break Free From Plastic found that 20,000 Coca-Cola branded products were picked up, representing more pollution than the next two top polluters combined.

Coca-Cola announced its “World Without Waste” sustainable packaging program in 2018, in which it promised to make all of its packaging recyclable — excluding the caps and labels — as well as have at least 25% of its beverages sold in refillable packaging by 2030.

2 . The Mackenzie River is the second largest river in North America after the Mississippi River and is the largest river system in Canada. It runs from southeast to northwest, from Great Slave Lake into the Arctic Ocean. The break-up of ice begins in late April, early May. The river is free of ice by early June and stays open until November. After flowing past Norman Wells, the river then continues to channels full of wild grasses, until its path is divided by plenty of islands, making the Mackenzie River Delta (三角洲) in Arctic Ocean.

The Mackenzie River Delta is the shape of a vast fan of low-lying islands. The delta is covered with black spruce (云杉), which is a type of tree that is large enough to be used for building and is widely used for cooking food or warming.

The Mackenzie River Delta, with many islands and wet land, provides a perfect environment for birds. Birds, including snow geese and swans, visit the river and delta every year and spend the summer months in the delta. In the spring, the delta is also a breeding (繁殖) ground for fish and whales. 44 species of fish are found in the river, many of which move in groups among the Mackenzie River and its branches (分支). Those which move from the sea to fresh water in order to lay eggs travel some of the farthest distances. The fish in Arctic Ocean, for example, travels from the delta up the Mackenzie River and into the Liard River.

However, climate changes and pollutants become the greatest concerns to the health of plants, animals, fish in and along the Mackenzie River and people there. Dangerous results from climate changes are already found along the Mackenzie River, including unusual floods and thinner ice roads. There are concerns that waste from oil and gas will pollute local environments. Levels of pollutants in fish, an important food source for local people, have greatly increased since the mid-1980s.

4 . As Plastic Chokes the Ocean, Technology Can Help

Some 8 million tons of non-recyclable (不可回收的) plastic end up in the ocean each year. At an alarming rate, the seas may have more plastic than fish by the middle of the century.     1    

Require a global solution to a global problem.     2     The developed countries and most of developing countries show their leadership in this process by setting goals, encouraging other member states, and offering support for poor countries.

    3     Although they are helpful to protect clean water and air, as it is known, non-recyclable plastic is widely used in the markets. Therefore, non-recyclable plastic still can be bought in our daily life. Its disappearance needs much more time and efforts.

Pay more attention to the new studies on plastic and technologies. Some of researchers are aiming to make replacements for plastic.     4     For example, “interceptors” can remove river pollution before it reaches the ocean.

Expect more responsibility from manufacturers.     5     As a start, they should be encouraged to simplify complex packaging. And their working with world governments will support poorer nations to improve waste collection and landfill (垃圾场) management.

The world doesn’t have enough time in trying to solve the problem. The sooner these efforts start, the better.

5 . Many of the world’s largest consumer product companies, including Coca-Cola, Unilever and PepsiCo, have set ambitious targets for replacing original plastics with recycled ones-typically 25% of their total packaging by 2025. So far, however, most companies have made modest progress and will need to accelerate their efforts to reach these high goals, according to a new cover story in Chemical& Engineering News, an independent news outlet of the American Chemical Society.

In the U.S., only about 10% of plastics are recycled into new products, compared with nearly33% in Europe, writes senior editor Alex Tullo. Facing increasing consumer pressure, many companies have made big promises to increase the amount of recycled plastics they use in packaging to 25%-50% by 2025 or 2030. However, most currently hover at a recycling rate between 2% and 12%, meaning that they will need to greatly speed up their efforts in order to succeed. Meeting the goals will require new technologies to help make plastics easier to recycle, as well as widespread collaboration and investment among brand owners, consumers, recycling facilities, chemical companies and others.

In traditional mechanical recycling, facilities sort through consumers’ recyclables collected local trash porters, separating plastics from metal, glass and other materials. To ease this dud process, AMP Robotics has developed a machine with learning-based technology that identify different types of plastics and pulls unwanted materials off the line with an inflated(充气的)arm. Next, the separated plastics are cut, washed, melted and reshaped. Then, plastics intended for food packaging undergo additional finishing steps.

Although recycling firms have developed new technologies, such as solvent extraction(溶剂萃取), to recycle different types of plastic more efficiently, consumer product companies must redesign their packaging, for example, by removing various plastics and metalized layers, to make them easier to recycle. Also, experts say that consumers need to do their part by putting more of their used plastics into recycling bins.

6 . Nobody wants to snack on plastic bags or soda rings, but according to a recent study from the University of Neweastle, we could be consuming roughly a credit card's worth of plastic every week.

Microplastic, which are less than a quarter-inch size and come in various shapes, have polluted the natural world and infiltrated(渗入)our bodies. The first clue to microplastic exposure in humans came around 2013, when scientists discovered plastic particles in seafood prepared for consumption. But in 2019, when the University of Newcastle study was published, the scientific community understood that the problem was considerably broader. Microplastics shed off clothes and tires and have been found in beer, honey, table salt and other food items. We breathe in plastic staying in the air and drink plastic floating in our drinks. It's no stretch to conclude that our exposure is significant. What we don't know is what this means for us.

The amount of evidence collected on this subject is growing rapidly, according to Scott Coffin, a toxicologist(毒理学家). Studies done on mice and rats have found that plastic in their bodies can severely damage cells and cause stress.

Because microplastics are too small to clean up, the only solution is to stop plastic waste at the source. And doing so would take a thorough adjustment, given that plastics are deeply embedded in our economy and lifestyle. Stopping using them would fundamentally affect countless industries, including textiles(纺织业), transportation and manufacturing.

"I think we need to have more studies coming out that are directly related to human health before we see a lot more concern from the general public," Scott said. "It takes a lot to convince people that something that is really convenient for them to use is something they should sacrifice."

The question of microplastics and human health needs more attention—from the scientific community ,the general public, the government and funding groups. The issue isn't being ignored, but it's not being prioritized either.

9 . Electronic waste, also known as e-waste, consists of a discarded phones, printers, TVs, electric toothbrushes and many other electronic goods no longer in use.

A shocking 53. 6 million tons of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2019 — less than a fifth of which was recycled, according to UN's Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report.

Of the total e-waste last year, Asia contributed the biggest amount — 46.4 per cent — followed by the Americas(24.4 percent), Europe (22.3 percent), Africa (5.4 percent) and Oceania (1.3 percent).

The combined heap of e-waste for 2019 averaged 7. 3 kg for every man, woman and child on Earth. The UK averaged the second-biggest in the world, at 23.9 kg, behind Norway, which averaged 26kg.

The report also reveals that just 17.4 percent of the e-waste was properly collected and recycled. E-waste is a health and environmental hazard (危害), containing hazardous substances such as mercury, which damages the human brain.

After a device is discarded and e-waste is warmed up, toxic chemicals are released into the air, damaging the atmosphere. E-waste in landfills can also seep (渗透) toxic materials into groundwater, affecting animals and plants.

Gold, silver, copper, and other high-value materials were collectively valued at $57 billion. However, they were mostly dumped or burned rather than being collected for treatment and reuse. In countries with developing markets, an increasing number of household electronics like refrigerators, air conditioners, and lamps are now being bought, leading to the rapid increase in e-waste. A global obsession with smart phones, which tend to be replaced by an updated model after a year, also helps build e-waste piles.

It's not that countries don't have policies to fight e-waste since 2014, the number of countries that have adopted a national e-waste policy has increased from 61 to 78, the report says. But advances are slow, enforcement (执行) is poor, and policies fail to encourage the collection and proper management of e-waste. The lack of effective policies around the world needs to be addressed (解决) as soon as possible.