经济学人: 回收:塑料公路 (3)

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　　especially if it is used to make low value products such as packaging. 尤其是这些塑料可以被用于制造低价值的产品，如包装时。

　　But using such plastic as a replacement² for bitumen³ is cost-effective, claims Mr McCartney. 但是使用这种塑料作为沥青的替代品是很合算的，麦卡特尼说。

　　As an example, he says that a tonne of bitumen might cost around 400 pounds ($521) in Britain. 例如，他说一公吨沥青在英国的成本约为400英镑（521美元）。

　　A recycled-plastic additive⁴ for a standard road works out at 300-350 pounds a tonne. 标准公路的再生塑料添加剂总计为一公吨300到350英镑。

　　The additive would replace a proportion of the bitumen, so there are savings⁵ to be made. 添加剂可替代部分沥青，因此可以有所节省。

　　At present 5-10% of the bitumen is replaced by the additives⁶, but this could be increased to 25%. 目前，5-10%的沥青被添加剂替代，但这个比例可增加至25%。

　　Mr McCartney decided⁷ to develop specialist recycled-plastic additives after watching a practice sometimes employed in India to repair potholes⁸. 在观察了印度修补坑槽的方法后，麦卡特尼决定开发专门的再生塑料添加剂。

　　Plastic waste collected by pickers is piled into the hole and then set alight with diesel⁹ to form a molten mass. 采集者收集的塑料废物被挤进洞中，然后用柴油起火形成熔融体。

　　It is crude and polluting, but it provides a fix of sorts. A number of roads in India are also made by mixing chopped-up plastic into bitumen. 这种方法粗糙且会造成污染，但提供了固定种类。印度很多公路也是通过将碎塑料与沥青混合制成。

　　Australia is another country that is starting to recycle plastic into roads. 澳大利亚是另一个开始将回收塑料制成公路的国家。

　　Earlier this year a 300-metre stretch was completed in Rayfield Avenue, Craigieburn, a suburb of Melbourne, using a substance called Plastiphalt. 今年年初，300米长的公路在墨尔本郊区克莱基伯恩雷菲尔德大道完工，该条公路使用的是被称为Plastiphalt的物质。

　　This consisted of recycled material from more than 200,000 plastic bags and packaging, 63,000 crushed glass bottles and toner from 4,500 printer cartridges¹⁰. 其中包含来自20多万个塑料袋和包装的回收材料、63000个碎玻璃罐以及来自4500个打印机墨盒的调色剂。

　　All this was blended into 50 tonnes of reclaimed¹¹ asphalt to create a total of 250 tonnes of road-building material. 所有这些都融入进了50公吨再生柏油中，制成总共250公吨的公路建造材料。

　　The road will be monitored to see how it performs. 将对这条公路进行监控看它的表现如何。

　　Stuart Billing of Downer, a firm involved in constructing the road, said that 参与建造这条公路的公司Stuart Billing of Downer表示

　　the cost of using the recycled materials was comparable with building a road in the usual way. 使用回收材料的成本与建造公路的常用方法相当。

　　But the road is expected to last a lot longer and prove better at coping with heavy traffic. 但是这条公路有望维持更久一点，事实证明它在应对交通拥挤上的表现更好。

　　Officials in Craigieburn reckon that the amount of rubbish used to construct the road, all of which was diverted from land-fill, 克莱基伯恩的官员估计用于建造公路的垃圾总量（这些垃圾都是来自垃圾填埋场）

　　is equivalent to what Rayfield Avenue's residents would have put into their recycling bins¹² over the past ten years. 和菲尔德大道居民在过去十年内扔进回收桶的垃圾总量相当。

　　One of the biggest complaints to local councils is about the state of the roads, especially potholes. 对市政委员会最大的投诉之一就是关于该地的公路，尤其是坑槽。

　　Households in Australia and elsewhere might well do more sorting and recycling of plastic if they knew it could result in a smoother drive. 对澳大利亚和各地的家庭来说，如果他们知道垃圾最终会进入路面平整机中的话，他们很可能会对垃圾进行分类并对塑料进行回收。

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