我國研發出可溶於海水的塑料

Chinese scientists have developed a plastic that degrades in seawater and could help curb the increasingly serious plastic pollution in the oceans.

我國科學家近日研製出一種可在海水中降解的塑料，或將有助於控制日益嚴重的海洋塑料污染問題。

The new polyester composite material can decompose in seawater over a period ranging from a few days to several hundred days, leaving small molecules that cause no pollution, said Wang Gexia, a senior engineer at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

中國科學院理化技術研究所高級工程師王格俠介紹，這種新型的聚酯複合材料可在數天到數百天內在海中降解，最終分解爲不會對環境造成污染的小分子。

"For a long time, people focused on 'white pollution' on land. Plastic pollution in the seas only caught people's attention when more and more reports about marine animals dying from it appeared in recent years," said Wang.

王格俠表示：“長期以來人們關注的都是陸地上的白色污染。直至近幾年，有關海洋生物因塑料污染死亡的報道越來越多，海洋塑料污染才引起人們的關注。”

Scientists combined non-enzymic hydrolysis, water dissolution and biodegradation processes to design and invent the new material.

科學家將非酶促水解、水溶解和生物降解的過程聯繫起來，設計併發明瞭這種新型材料。

About 4.8 million to 12.7 million ton of plastic waste goes into the seas very year, accounting for 60% to 80% of the total solid pollutants in the oceans, according to a conservative estimate by scientists.

據科學家保守估計，人類每年向海洋丟棄的塑料垃圾約爲480萬至1270萬噸，佔海洋固體污染物總量的60%-80%。

The institute has authorized four Chinese enterprises to use their technology, with three enterprises going into production with a total annual capacity of half the global biodegradable plastics, or 75,000 tons.

目前，該研究所已授權4家國內企業使用其技術，其中3家已經投產，可生物降解塑料總產能達到每年7.5萬噸，佔全球總量的一半。

China has given top priority to ecological environmental protection, contributing Chinese wisdom to resolving global pollution.

中國已經將生態環境保護放在了第一位，爲解決全球污染問題貢獻了中國的智慧。