実践ビジネス英語 ディクテーション (7/26, 27)

NHKラジオ「実践ビジネス英語」”Talk the Talk”のディクテーションです。

Lesson 8 のテーマは、‘Plastics, Plastics, Everywhere’（いたるところにプラスチック）でした。Vignetteによると、日本でも話題になっているプラスチックごみ問題について、この問題を難しくしている事柄や影響、ごみの分別や処理に関する取り組みなどが紹介されました。海に推定5兆個のプラスチック片があるそうです。

 Plastics, Plastics, Everywhere

（S: 杉田敏先生　H: Heather Howardさん）

S: In our current vignette, The A&A staff talk about the serious threat caused by plastic waste.

It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it, to hear about marine animals that have died as a result of plastic dumped in the sea.

H: It truly is.

Just recently there were reports about a whale that died in the Philippines.

It had nearly 90 pounds, that’s 40 kg, of plastic waste in its stomach.

According to an article I read, a marine mammal expert who examined the body said the plastic trash was so densely packed into the stomach it felt as hard and compacted as a baseball.

And some of the plastic had been in the stomach so long it has started calcifying.

I’m sorry I know that’s a gruesome image to begin our talk with today, but I think it’s important to face just how horrible the impact of plastic waste can be on the world.

We need to recognize that it takes steps to address the problem.

S: Yes, we must.

To that end, an increasing number of coffee shops and fast food chains are doing away with single-use drinking straws, and supermarkets and retail stores are starting to charge for plastic bags.

Single-use was one of the words of the year in 2018.

I think these are important moves, because a big proportion of all the world’s plastic production is for food packaging and food-related objects.

And most of those plastic products can’t be easily broken down by microorganisms or chemical processes unlike paper and food.

There was a hope that biodegradable plastic would soon solve these problems, but that hasn’t happened yet in any significant way.

H: The vignette also mentions how single-stream recycling is still the norm in the United States.

S: Right. Single-stream recycling refers to a system in which all waste materials are mixed at collection points and then separated for reuse at a materials recovery facility.

Optical sensors, magnets and sieves, as well as computers, are used to separate plastics, glass, paper, metals and other materials.

We in Japan are used to separating waste by category.

Plastic bottles are separated from other plastic garbage, while newspapers and magazines are strung together for recycling.

Also, corrugated fiberboard, glass, milk containers and clothes are usually handled separately through the collection process.

My favorite disposal slogan is: If you separate the wastes they become resources; if you don’t, they’re garbage.

H: That’s a good slogan. I’ll keep it in mind.

I completely agree with Pat McMillan in the vignette when he says consumers and businesses alike should be encouraged to improve how they use plastic and how they dispose of it.

McMillan says companies should get tax breaks to invest in better technologies that sort and reuse plastics.

How about financial benefits for ordinary people who recycle and reuse plastics a lot, too?

Remember the eco-points we got for a while if we bought energy-saving appliances?

And we could exchange those points for various goods?

Perhaps Japan and other countries could set up ongoing programs that awarded points, maybe recorded on cards with IC chips, for people who engaged in various kinds of recycling and reuse.

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お疲れ様でした。お読みくださり、ありがとうございます。