We’ve heard many stories of individuals across the world who’ve adopted a zero-waste lifestyle, but it’s not often that we come across an entire community that is trying to become waste-free. The residents of Kamikatsu, Japan, take recycling so seriously that they actually hope to become the nation’s first zero-waste community by 2020.
采取“零廢物”生活方式的個人屢見不鮮，力圖實現“無廢棄”目標的群體倒很少見。日本上勝町的居民在回收利用廢物時相當嚴謹，事實上，他們希望到2020年時，能把家鄉建設成日本首個“零廢物”小鎮。

Kamikatsu has no garbage trucks – so residents need to compost their kitchen scraps at home. They also have to wash and sort the rest of their trash into 34 different categories, and bring it to the recycling center themselves where workers make sure that the waste goes into the correct bins. It apparently took some time for the residents to get used to this rule, but they eventually managed to adapt to the drastic changes and are now seeing them as normal.
上勝町沒有垃圾車——因而居民需要在家中將廚余垃圾制成堆肥。除此之外，他們必須先清洗廢物，并對照34種分類標準一一歸類，然后再將其送至回收中心，那里的工人會確保廢物被正確放入相應的回收箱。顯然，適應回收規則需要時間，但上勝町的居民最終成功適應了這些巨變，并漸漸變得習以為常。

The Japanese town has turned recycling into a streamlined process – there are separate bins for different types of paper products – newspapers, magazines, cartons, and flyers. Even plastic bottles and their caps go into different bins as do aluminum, spray, and steel cans are collected separately too. Many of these items are resold or repurposed into usable clothing, toys, and accessories. The labels on each bin show the recycling process for that specific item, so the residents know exactly what happens to their trash.
這個日本小鎮讓回收過程變得既精簡又高效——上勝町針對各類紙制品（譬如報紙、雜志、紙箱及傳單）設置了不同的回收箱。甚至連塑料瓶和瓶蓋都必須分開投放，鋁罐、噴霧罐和鋼罐也必須歸類至不同的回收箱。人們會再次出售某些廢物，或將其重新用于衣物、玩具和首飾上。每個回收箱都貼有展示此類廢物回收過程的標簽，這樣，居民們就能清楚得知廢物的處理方式。

Reuse is highly encouraged in Kamikatsu – they have a local kuru-kuru shop where residents can exchange used items with new things at no extra cost. And the kuru-kuru factory employs women to make bags, clothes, and stuffed dolls out of discarded items. Businesses are also encouraged to participate in responsible waste management – the town has a zero-waste brewery, housed in a building constructed of reused materials.
上勝町特別鼓勵居民重復使用物品——當地設有kuru-kuru商店，人們可以以舊換新，而無需支付額外費用。kuru-kuru工廠會雇傭女工用廢棄物品制作包包、衣物或填充玩偶。上勝町支持各類企業參與廢物管理以增強企業的責任感——小鎮里有一家“零廢物”釀酒廠，它位于采用可再生材料建造的房屋內。

With a population of just over 1,700, Kamikatsu recycles about 80 percent of its trash and only 20 percent goes to landfills, so you could say that the town is very close to achieving its goal. They’ve been practicing prudent waste management for the past 13 years after declaring their zero-waste ambition in 2003 and giving up their old practice of dumping trash into open fires.
小鎮僅有1700多人，卻回收了近八成的廢物，需要運至垃圾填筑地的廢物只剩兩成，從某種程度上來說，小鎮已快要達成“零廢物”的目標。2003年時，上勝町宣稱要實現此目標，他們放棄了焚燒垃圾的舊做法。此后的13年里，他們始終嚴格踐行廢物管理規則。

“If you get used to it, it becomes normal,” a Kamikatsu resident said in a video made by YouTube channel Seeker Stories. “It can be a pain, and at first we were opposed to the idea. Now I don’t think about it. It’s become natural to separate the trash correctly.”
“當你習慣回收廢物后，這事兒就會顯得很平常，”在YouTube“探索者所見” （Seeker Stories）頻道攝制的錄像中，一位上勝町的居民如是說道。“回收廢物很麻煩，我們起初都反對這一提議。但現在，我根本不會想太多。對我來說，正確分類廢物再自然不過了。”

All the recycling facilities in Kamikatsu are managed by a Zero Waste Academy which also regularly hosts groups of local schoolchildren and foreign visitors, educating them on the benefits of a zero waste lifestyle. Every years, the Academy receives around 2,500 visitors from all around the world, all eager to learn more about zero-waste and how Kamikatsu has managed to implement its principles in such a short period of time.
上勝町所有的回收廠都歸零廢物協會管理，該協會還定期組織當地小學生及外國游客參觀學習，教導他們采取“零廢物”生活方式的益處。每年，協會都會接待2500多人到訪，這些來自世界各地的人渴望能更多地了解“零廢物”，同時也迫切想知道上勝町在短時間內成功踐行廢物管理規則的秘訣。

Vocabulary

compost: 把（廢料等）做成堆肥

英文來源：odditycentral
譯者：周瑾
審校&編輯：丹妮