如何让塑料再生？

There can be no doubt that we have fallen completely out of love with plastics. UK environment secretary Michael Gove’s war on plastics and the EU’s recent announcement that it will make all plastics produced in the bloc recyclable by 2030 have made that official. Emotive images of distressed sea life and of disgusting plastic debris washed up on our shores are beamed daily into our living rooms. Combined with vociferous campaigns in the media about the evils of plastic coffee cups, straws and packaging, they have helped to reinforce our firm belief that plastics are enemy number one where the environment is concerned. And, of course, they are.

毫无疑问，我们已经完全失去了对塑料的好感。英国环境大臣迈克尔•戈夫(Michael Gove)对塑料制品宣战，以及欧盟最近宣布到2030年联盟境内生产的所有塑料制品都必须可回收，使这种情绪成为官方立场。我们在起居室里天天看到触目惊心的画面：海洋生物被塑料制品坑害，以及令人作呕的塑料垃圾被冲上海岸。加上媒体大肆宣传塑料咖啡杯、吸管和包装的种种危害，这些都强化了我们的坚定信念：塑料制品已成为环境的头号敌人。当然，它们是。

And yet it is worth remembering that, although plastics have been going in and out of favour for many years, there have been times when they were the heroes of the age. In the 19th century, plastics brought the excitement of possessing goods within the reach of nearly everyone. Standing in for semi-precious materials — jet, amber, jade and ivory among them — early plastics made it possible for many more people to indulge in luxury goods than would otherwise have been the case. As well as democratising the thrill of wearing glamorous jewellery, playing billiards would not have been the same in the late 19th century as the balls were made of celluloid — despite being highly combustible.

然而，值得记住的是，虽然塑料制品多年来时而受宠、时而遭厌弃，但它们也曾有过成为时代英雄的时期。19世纪，塑料制品带来了几乎人人可以拥有某些物品的兴奋感。作为黑色大理石、琥珀、玉器、象牙等半宝石材料的替代品，早期的塑料制品使得更多的人有机会享受奢侈品。除了普及佩戴迷人珠宝的兴奋感之外，19世纪末用赛璐珞(celluloid)制成的台球——尽管这种材料非常易燃——使这种游戏流行起来。

Jump to the early 20th century and the close relationship between plastics, mass production and new technologies was strongly reinforced. Bakelite made electric plugs possible and quickly became the material of choice to clothe new high-tech goods such as radios and gramophones, transforming them from items of furniture into symbols of the modern age. Indeed, a couple of decades later, the French cultural critic Roland Barthes celebrated the magical qualities of plastics, referring to them as the “stuff of alchemy”.

到了20世纪早期，塑料、大规模生产和新技术之间的密切关系得到了有力的加强。酚醛树脂(胶木)使电源插头成为可能，并迅速成为收音机、留声机等新的高科技产品外壳的首选材料，把它们从家具产品转变成了现代的标志。事实上，几十年后，法国文化评论家罗兰•巴特(Roland Barthes)称赞了塑料的神奇品质，称之为“点金术材料”。

But it was in the years after 1945 that plastics met high culture and coincided with the democratic ideals underpinning the “good design for everyone” movement. The most progressive implementation of that ideal took place in Italy, where such mundane products as lemon squeezers and waste bins suddenly aspired to the status of art objects, so sleek were their sculptural forms and so vibrant their colours. Working with the designer Gino Colombini, the company Kartell was at the forefront of the campaign, while plastics manufacturing techniques were soon enhanced to make it possible to create the all-plastic chair. Colourful examples were created by Italian designers Cesare “Joe” Colombo, Vico Magistretti and others. Stylish additions to both the interior and exterior landscapes, they sat like jewels in chic, modern living rooms and outside fashionable cafés.

但在1945年之后的岁月里，塑料邂逅了高雅文化，并与支撑“好设计为人人”运动的民主理想相契合。践行这种理念的前沿是在意大利，在那里，柠檬榨汁机、垃圾桶这样的普通产品突然获得艺术品那样的地位，其雕塑般的线条如此圆滑，色彩如此鲜艳。与设计师吉诺•科隆比尼(Gino Colombini)合作，Kartell公司走在了这一运动的最前沿，而塑料制造技术很快得到了提升，使制造全塑料椅子成为可能。意大利设计师乔•科隆博(Joe Colombo)、维科•马吉斯特蒂(Vico Magistretti)等人设计制作了各种各样的彩色椅子。这些时髦的椅子为室内装饰和户外景观都增添了风采，它们像珠宝一样被放在时髦、现代的客厅或者时尚的咖啡馆外。

And then it all went wrong. The oil crisis of the early 1970s meant that while plastics were still cheerful, they were no longer cheap. The environmental movement gained traction at the same time and plastics’ cost, combined with the problem of their disposal, stripped them of their democratising potential and their links to the utopian concept of modern design. All was not lost, however, as a handful of innovative designs showed that plastics could be recycled and still form the basis for equally beautiful objects.

但随后，一切都变了。上世纪70年代初爆发的石油危机意味着，虽然塑料制品仍受到欢迎，但它们已不再廉价。与此同时，环保运动获得了动力，而塑料制品的成本加上它们的处置问题，剥夺了它们的大众化潜力以及与现代设计乌托邦理念的关联。然而，局面并非一团糟，一些创新设计表明塑料制品可以被回收利用，构成同样美丽的物品的基础。

Fast forward to the present and the EU’s commitment to making all plastics recyclable. Perhaps it should be less about hating plastics and more about making them work for us. No one would want to challenge the current concern for the detrimental effects of plastics on the environment. Perhaps, though, taking note of how easily yesterday’s friend can become today and tomorrow’s enemy, we should focus less on the negative, become more inventive and look to our designers to reimagine the possibilities of recycled plastics. They have done it before.

快进到现在以及欧盟规定所有塑料制品都必须可回收利用的承诺。或许，关键不应是痛恨塑料，而应更多地思考让它们发挥正确的作用。没人想挑战当下有关塑料对环境有害影响的担忧。然而，想一想昨天的朋友是多么容易变成今天和明天的敌人，或许我们应该少关注消极一面，而应该变得更具创造力，期待我们的设计师重新构想再生塑料的可能性。他们曾经这样做过。

The writer is professor of design history at Kingston University and the author of ‘The Plastics Age’

本文作者是金斯敦大学(Kingston University)设计史教授，著有《塑料时代》(The Plastics Age)