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把瓶子、罐子和纸张分类回收，是许多国家日常生活的一部分，但回收率并不会自动上升。10 月 27 日，苏格兰环境保护局（Sepa）公布数据：2025 年苏格兰家庭回收了 42.8% 的垃圾，低于前一年的 44.3%，是五年来的最低水平；而苏格兰政府早在 2010 年就提出，到 2025 年回收率应达到 70%。文章先交代目标与现实的差距，再比较不同地区的回收率，随后梳理专家提出的原因：各地收集规则不统一、瓶罐押金返还计划一再推迟，以及大量本可回收的东西被扔进了黑色垃圾袋。接着介绍焚烧发电厂迅速增加带来的变化与争论，最后以监管机构“先减少垃圾、再多回收”的表态收尾。阅读时可留意 says、argue、suggests 等词如何区分官方数据、企业说法和环保团体的观点。

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Scotland has set itself big goals for recycling, but new figures show that it is moving the wrong way. According to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), households in Scotland recycled 42.8% of their waste in 2025. That was down from 44.3% the year before, and it is the lowest level in five years.

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苏格兰为垃圾回收定下了宏大目标，但新数据显示，它正朝着相反的方向发展。据苏格兰环境保护局（Sepa）统计，2025 年苏格兰家庭回收了 42.8% 的垃圾。这一比例低于前一年的 44.3%，是五年来的最低水平。

The gap between plans and results is large. In 2010, the Scottish government set out a plan which said that recycling rates should reach 70% by 2025. Instead, the rate has stayed at about 45% for more than ten years. Households also produced 2.31 million tonnes of waste last year, only 1,500 tonnes less than in 2024.

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计划与结果之间的差距很大。2010 年，苏格兰政府制定了一项计划，提出到 2025 年回收率应达到 70%。然而，十多年来回收率一直停留在 45% 左右。去年家庭共产生 231 万吨垃圾，只比 2024 年少了 1,500 吨。

The figures show big differences between places, too. In South Ayrshire, people recycled 55% of their waste, while in Glasgow the figure was only 26%. Island areas had the lowest rates, and Orkney recycled just 18.2%.

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数据还显示，各地之间差别很大。在南艾尔郡，人们回收了 55% 的垃圾，而格拉斯哥的这一数字只有 26%。海岛地区的回收率最低，奥克尼群岛仅为 18.2%。

Experts point to several reasons. Councils do not all collect the same things, which can confuse households. Some take glass bottles from people’s homes, for example, while others ask people to carry them to bottle banks. A deposit return scheme, which pays people back when they return bottles and cans, has helped to raise recycling in other countries, but in Scotland it has been delayed again and again. Research from Zero Waste Scotland also suggests that more than half of what goes into black bins could be recycled.

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专家指出了几方面原因。各地议会收集的东西并不统一，这可能让家庭感到困惑。例如，有些地方会上门收集玻璃瓶，另一些地方则要求居民自己把瓶子送到回收点。押金返还计划会在人们交回瓶罐时退还一笔钱，这种做法已帮助其他国家提高了回收率，但在苏格兰却一再推迟。“零废弃苏格兰”的研究还表明，扔进黑色垃圾箱的东西中，一半以上本可以回收。

The biggest change has been in what happens to rubbish that is not recycled. Scotland has quickly built more energy-from-waste plants, which burn rubbish to make electricity, so less waste now goes to landfill. The waste company Viridor says burning is a greener choice than burying, because landfill sites give off gases such as methane. But campaigners at Friends of the Earth Scotland argue that recycling has stopped improving because waste that could have been recycled is being burned instead. Even with the new plants, a ban on sending household rubbish to landfill, which was due to start this year, has in effect been delayed to 2028.

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最大的变化在于未被回收的垃圾如何处理。苏格兰迅速建起了更多垃圾焚烧发电厂，它们通过焚烧垃圾来发电，因此如今送往填埋场的垃圾减少了。垃圾处理公司 Viridor 说，焚烧比填埋更环保，因为填埋场会释放甲烷等气体。但“地球之友苏格兰”的环保人士认为，回收率之所以停滞不前，是因为本可回收的垃圾被拿去焚烧了。即便有了这些新工厂，原定今年开始实施的家庭垃圾填埋禁令，实际上也已推迟到 2028 年。

Sepa’s chief scientific officer, Dr Richard Allan, called the figures an “ongoing challenge“. He said that where waste ends up is important, but the main aim should be to produce less waste in the first place and to recycle more of what is produced. Campaigners expect the government to ask for views on new targets this year. Setting targets is the easy part, they say; meeting them needs real planning.

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苏格兰环境保护局首席科学官理查德·艾伦博士称这些数据反映了一个“持续存在的挑战”。他说，垃圾最终去向固然重要，但主要目标应该是从源头减少垃圾，并回收更多已经产生的垃圾。环保人士预计政府今年会就新目标征求意见。他们说，制定目标是容易的部分，实现目标则需要切实的规划。

新闻来源

• BBC News · Scotland’s recycling rates fall to lowest level in five years (27 Oct 2026)
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency · Household waste data (2025 summary published 27 Oct 2026)

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