Plastic waste burns all night in the small Malaysian town of Jenjarom, causing locals to cough and lose sleep. Businesspeople came to the area promising to develop an “environmental protection industry”. Instead they brought piles of waste for incineration.

马来西亚瓜拉冷岳县小镇仁嘉隆，彻夜不熄的塑料垃圾焚烧炉令人无法入睡，咳嗽不止。村民们没有想到，蜂拥而至来发展“环保产业”的外商，带来的是一堆堆垃圾。

Malaysia is the world’s biggest importer of plastic waste. It replaced China after the country announced a ban on the trade in 2017. But like nearby Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, Malaysia is now facing its own environmental pressures. A recent amendment to the Basel Convention may help end the practice of richer countries exporting their plastic waste to less developed nations.

在中国宣布拒收绝大部分废塑料后，马来西亚迅速成为了世界第一大废塑料进口国，面临着严峻的环境压力，而临近的泰国、印尼、越南也面临相似状况。不过，近日《控制危险废物越境转移及其处置的巴塞尔公约》（《巴塞尔公约》）修订案的通过，有可能彻底终结“洋垃圾”全球倾销时代。

Academics estimate that since the invention of plastic the world has produced 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste. A mere 9% of that has been recycled. Twelve percent has been incinerated and 79% has ended up either in landfill or elsewhere in the natural environment. A failure to stem the growth in plastics production would mean that by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastics than fish by weight, according to an Ellen MacArthur Foundation report.Once carried into the ocean by rain and rivers plastics degrade into microplastics, which marine life consumes, sending it through the food chain and into our bodies.

有学者估算，在全球过去百年间生产的63亿吨塑料垃圾中，得到回收再利用的仅为区区9%，另有12%被焚烧，剩下的接八成塑料，最终都或被丢弃，或被填埋，最终滞留在了环境中。艾伦麦克阿瑟基金会2016年发布的报告称，如不扭转塑料生产的增长速度，到2050年，全球海洋中漂浮的塑料垃圾重量将超过鱼类。一旦随着雨水和河流到达大海，破碎为微粒的“微塑料”甚至会在被海洋生物误食后，通过食物链再次回到人类体内。

But relying on the Basel Convention to control the cross-border transfer of plastic waste will not solve the crisis. Instead, the culture of disposability that is a feature of modern lifestyles must be addressed. If we cannot stop the overuse of disposable plastic packaging and boost global sorting and recycling capacity, then all that will be achieved is a slight shift of the problem back from developing nations.

显而易见，仅靠《巴塞尔公约》从贸易角度控制废塑料的跨境转移并不能解决塑料垃圾带来的环境危机。我们需要改变的是深深嵌入当代生活的一整套“丢弃文化”。如果不能扼住即用即弃的塑料包装的泛滥之势，同时提升全球各国对塑料垃圾分类、回收、再生的能力，那么就算废塑料百分百在本地处置，也只不过是把问题从发展中国家又拉回发达国家，从根源上于事无补。

The amendment to the Basel Convention has dispelled the notion that plastic waste can simply be exported away. When it comes into force in 18 month’s time some countries may be forced to reckon with their own inability to manage their plastic waste. It may also force a revolution in how plastics are used.

可以说，《巴塞尔公约》修订案打消了全球各国对于用“保守疗法”治疗塑料危机的最后一丝幻想。不过，还有一年半就要生效的《巴塞尔公约》到底是会造就一个又一个无法自理的塑料孤岛，还是成功倒逼出一场全球塑料革命，新的变革才刚刚开始。