Given that most of these items are not biodegradable, and are not recycled, plastics waste is building up – with serious environmental consequences. While governments have begun to implement new (and often quite strict) regulations aimed at managing plastics waste – for example, China banned lightweight plastic shopping bags in 2008 – they are inadequate to address the world’s growing plastics-waste problem.
大约一半的塑料制品——比如包装盒——是一次性用品，其使用前保质期很短（不到半年）。这些东西大多不可生物降解，也不可回收，因此塑料废物激增，带来了严重的环境后果。尽管政府已开始实施新的（通常相当严格）旨在治理塑料废物的监管——比如中国在2008年开始禁止使用轻质塑料购物袋——但并不足以解决越来越严重的塑料废物问题。