2006年VOA标准英语-Mali's Capital Has Recycling Woes

By Nico Colombant
Bamako, Mali
02 May 2006
 
watch Mali Recycling report

  
  
Mali's capital, Bamako, faces a worsening recycling problem, with bottles and plastic bags becoming more popular -- and more polluting.  The government is doing little to solve the problem, which activists¹ say poses a serious health problem.  VOA's Nico Colombant reports from Bamako, the capital of one of the world's poorest countries.

------------------------------------------

Used plastic bags and empty bottles lie in many parts of Bamako. Plastic bags are being used for everything, including selling water and hot food. 

There are maybe just a handful of trash cans in all of Bamako, a sprawling² city, so, once used, people just drop their plastic bags and let them fly away. 

 
Animals roam Mali's cities in search for food and eat plastic
  
Animals that roam the city often eat these plastic bags and die. Citizens complain the goats, cows, and other animals they keep have died because of this litter problem.

The high usage of plastic bags has also created a huge health hazard for humans.

There is minimal³ trash collection here.  The government supplies a few donkeys, and a few teams go out in the mornings to collect trash to dump it off at a few sites in the city. But it seems like just a drop in the big litter box that Bamako is becoming.

Market women gather here and do their own recycling.  They will sell food and water from these plastic bags they recovered from trash.

There is also bottle recycling that takes place.  Ichiaka used to be a shepherd, but he says he makes more money now.  He makes daily trips on his bike to collect bottles, and when he resells them to market wholesalers, he makes a few cents on each bottle. He deals in both water bottles and acid bottles.

The head of a Malian consumer's association, Hortense Coulibaly, is devastated⁴, by both the problem and the response.

 
Hortense Coulibaly
  
"I must say this kind of initiative, we are a little afraid of. Certain bottles must not be used to put in things to eat, or else if these are used over and over, they carry diseases.  I have had information from the World Health Organization in Bamako, which told me repeated use of plastic bottles can even lead to cancer.  After a while, it becomes chemical and very dangerous.  But it is a big problem in Bamako; we explain over and over about the danger of plastic bottles and plastic bags, but no one seems to listen. 

She says there is a lack of sensitivity to both the pollution problem and the subsequent health hazards. There are departments in different government ministries⁵ supposed to tackle the problem, but little is being done. Coulibaly adds politicians do not feel concerned, since they do not have to live among the trash as poor people do.

In one popular neighborhood, Faladje, though, her association has helped a small group organize a very serious-looking and effective trash collection.  They were able to get government funding and tractors for this.

They go out every morning, making a few parts of Bamako, at least, a little cleaner and healthier.

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

3 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

4 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

5 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。