城市采矿工厂是否能够破解全球电子垃圾泛滥难题

2014-07-08 17:33:07来源：可可英语

　　On a recent, rather stormy Tuesday afternoon, former U.S. vice president Al Gore and an assortment of Silicon Valley executives assembled in an unlikely spot—Osceola, Arkansas—to break ground on a promising new venture.

　　最近一个暴雨如注的周二下午，美国前副总统艾尔o戈尔和一众硅谷高管聚集在一个他们似乎不大可能出现的地方——阿肯色州奥西奥拉市，参加一家很有前途的新企业的动工仪式。

　　Backed by $35 million in financing, California-based startup BlueOak Resources is building a brand-new facility in this city of 8,000 or so, but it’s not to manufacture a new high-tech gadget. Quite the opposite, in fact: BlueOak’s new operation will be what it calls the nation’s first “urban mining” refinery dedicated to recovering valuable metals such as gold, silver, copper and palladium from the growing mountains of e-waste currently threatening to overwhelm the planet.

　　在高达3,500万美元融资的支持下，总部位于加州的蓝橡树资源回收公司(BlueOak Resources)准备在这座拥有大约8,000人口的小城建设一家新工厂，但它要生产的并不是某种高科技新玩意。恰恰相反：在电子垃圾堆积如山，似乎要淹没全球的大背景下，蓝橡树的新设施将成为全美第一家致力于回收金、银、铜和钯等贵重金属的“城市采矿(urban mining)”冶炼厂。

　　“Every day, U.S. consumers dispose of enough cell phones to cover 50 football fields,” said Privahini Bradoo, BlueOak’s chief executive.

　　蓝橡树公司CEO普里瓦伊尼o布拉多说：“美国消费者每天扔掉的手机足以覆盖50个橄榄球场。”

　　Although between 7% and 10% of the world’s gold and 30% of the silver produced goes into electronics, only 15% of the 50 million tons of e-waste created globally each year undergoes any recycling, Bradoo said. Instead, the vast majority of devices are dumped in landfills or exported to countries where e-waste is hand-picked over open fires.

　　布拉多表示，尽管全世界生产的7%到10%的黄金和30%的银都变成了电子产品部件，但在全球每年产生的5,000万吨电子垃圾中，仅有15%经过某种形式的回收处理。绝大多数设备都被弃置于垃圾填埋场，或者被出口到海外，最终用明火焚烧。

　　The city of Guiyu, China—widely considered the world’s e-waste capital—receives some 4,000 tons of the stuff per hour. It also has the highest-ever recorded level of dioxins, and 90% of its residents have neurological damage, Bradoo said. “Not only is it a humanitarian disaster, but when we looked at the value contained in e-scrap, it was shocking,” she added.

　　外界普遍认为，位于中国广东省汕头市的贵屿镇是全球电子垃圾之都。贵屿镇每小时大约收到4,000吨垃圾。这座小镇的二恶英类有机污染物目前已达到有记载以来的最高水平，布拉多说，当地九成居民的神经系统都受到了损伤。她补充说：“这当然是一场人道主义灾难，但这些电子废料包含的价值同样令人震惊。”

本文关键字: 城市采矿工电子垃圾泛滥难题