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导读：目前，麻布袋帆布袋制作电话/微信：15838231350棉质手提袋已经成为各个品牌商、零售商和超市宣传环保理念的一种手段，至少他们意识到了塑料在包装中的滥用。那么，棉布袋真的环保吗？其实并非如此。全面推广棉质手提袋，实际上可能会带来一个新问题。
无注释原文：
The Cotton Tote Crisis
Cotton bags have become a means for brands, retailers and supermarkets to telegraph a planet-friendly mindset – or, at least, to show that the companies are aware of the overuse of plastic in packaging.
"There’s a trend in New York right now where people are wearing merch: carrying totes from local delis, hardware stores or their favourite steakhouse,” says designer Rachel Comey.
So far, so Earth-friendly? Not exactly. It turns out the wholehearted embrace of cotton totes may actually have created a new problem.
An organic cotton tote needs to be used 20,000 times to offset its overall impact of production, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That equates to daily use for 54 years – for just one bag.
Cotton is water-intensive, and figuring out how to dispose of a tote in an environmentally low-impact way is not nearly as simple as people think, according to Travis Wagner, an environmental science professor at the University of Maine.
You can’t, for example, just put a tote in a compost bin, and only 15 percent of the 30 million tons of cotton produced every year actually makes its way to textile depositories. Even when a tote does make it to a treatment plant, most dyes used to print logos onto them are PVC-based and thus not recyclable.
That’s not to say cotton is worse than plastic, or that the two should even be compared. While cotton can use pesticides and has dried up rivers from water consumption, lightweight plastic bags use greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, are not biodegrade and clog up the oceans.
Buffy Reid, of the British knitwear label &Daughter, halted production of her cotton bags in April this year. Aesop is converting the composition of its shopping bags to a blend of recycled and organic cotton. “It will cost us 15 percent more,” says Suzanne Santos, the chief customer officer of Aesop, but “it reduces water by 70 percent to 80 percent”.
Some brands are turning to other textile solutions. Designer Ally Capellino recently swapped cotton for hemp, while Hindmarch introduced a new version of her original tote, this time made from recycled water bottles; Nordstrom also uses similar bags in its stores.
In the end, the simplest solution may be the most obvious. “Not every product needs a bag,” Comey says.
带注释全文：
The Cotton Tote Crisis
Cotton bags have become a means for brands, retailers and supermarkets to telegraph a planet-friendly mindset – or, at least, to show that the companies are aware of the overuse of plastic in packaging.
"There’s a trend in New York right now where people are wearing merch: carrying totes from local delis, hardware stores or their favourite steakhouse,” says designer Rachel Comey.
设计师蕾切尔·科米说："现在纽约有这样一种潮流，人们喜欢穿着T恤，提着当地熟食店、五金店或他们最喜欢的牛排馆发放的手提袋。"
tote [təʊt] 此处用作名词
n. 大手提袋
vt. 携带，搬运（尤指重物）
[例句] To avoid using plastic bags, I take my tote bag when I go shopping.
为了避免使用塑胶袋，我去购物的时候都会带购物袋。
deli [ˈdeli]
n. (出售干酪、冷盘肉等的)熟食店
[例句] There is a great Italian deli across the street.
穿过街道，有一家麻布袋帆布袋制作电话/微信：15838231350年夜的意大利熟食店。
So far, so Earth-friendly? Not exactly. It turns out the wholehearted embrace of cotton totes may actually have created a new problem.
An organic cotton tote needs to be used 20,000 times to offset its overall impact of production, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That equates to daily use for 54 years – for just one bag.
丹麦环境和食品部2018年的一项研究显示，一个有机棉手提袋需要使用20,000次，才能抵消其生产过程带来的整体负面影响。一个袋子，如果每天使用，相当于得使用54年。
equate [iˈkweɪt]
vt. 相当于，使等同
[例句] People often equate success in life with the ability of operating computer.
人们常把人生的成功与使用计算机的能力相等同。
Cotton is water-intensive, and figuring out how to dispose of a tote in an environmentally low-impact way is not nearly as simple as people think, according to Travis Wagner, an environmental science professor at the University of Maine.
缅因大学环境科学教授特拉维斯·瓦格纳表示，棉布在制作过程中需要大量的水，要想以一种对环境影响小的方式制造一个手提袋，并不像人们想象的那样简单。
You can’t, for example, just put a tote in a compost bin, and only 15 percent of the 30 million tons of cotton produced every year actually makes its way to textile depositories. Even when a tote does make it to a treatment plant, most dyes used to print logos onto them are PVC-based and thus not recyclable.
They’re “extremely difficult to break down chemically,” said Christopher Stanev, the co-founder of Evrnu, a Seattle-based textile recycling firm. Printed patterns have to be cut out of the cloth; Mr. Stanev estimates 10 to 15 percent of the cotton Evrnu receives is wasted this way.
西雅图纺织品回收公司 Evrnu 的联合创始人克里斯托弗·斯塔涅夫说，它们 "极难用化学方法分解"。必须将印有图案的部分剪掉才能回收，斯坦尼夫先生估计，Evrnu 公司收到的棉布中，有10%至15%是以这种方式浪费掉的。
That’s not to say cotton is worse than plastic, or that the two should even be compared. While cotton can use pesticides and has dried up rivers from water consumption, lightweight plastic bags use greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, are not biodegrade and clog up the oceans.
这并不是说棉花比塑料更差，或者两者应该相提并论。棉花可能会被使用杀虫剂，并因耗水而使河流干涸，而轻质塑料袋则使用排放温室气体的化石燃料，不能被生物降解，堆积在海里。
pesticide [ˈpestɪsaɪd]
n. 杀虫剂
[例句] Samples of the water contained pesticide.
水样中含有杀虫剂。
clog up [klɒɡ ʌp]
动词词组：（使）阻塞; （使）堵塞
[例句] An air filter system eliminates any dust that might clog up the movements.
空气过滤系统可以消除空气中的尘埃，以免阻塞机芯的运作。
Buffy Reid, of the British knitwear label &Daughter, halted production of her cotton bags in April this year. Aesop is converting the composition of its shopping bags to a blend of recycled and organic cotton. “It will cost us 15 percent more,” says Suzanne Santos, the chief customer officer of Aesop, but “it reduces water by 70 percent to 80 percent”.
英国针织品品牌 &Daughter 的创始人巴菲·里德今年4月停止了她的棉布袋子的生产。伊索正在将他们购物袋的成分转换为再生棉和有机棉的混合物。伊索公司的首席客户官苏珊娜·桑托斯说："这将使我们的成本增加15%，但这可以节约70%到80%的水。"
Some brands are turning to other textile solutions. Designer Ally Capellino recently swapped cotton for hemp, while Hindmarch introduced a new version of her original tote, this time made from recycled water bottles; Nordstrom also uses similar bags in its stores.
In the end, the simplest solution may be the most obvious. “Not every product needs a bag,” Comey says.
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