陈立雯还记得自己小时候在农村见到的景象。 Chen Liwen still remembers the place she grew up in.
“八十年代初的时候，乡村的环境相对没有被污染得很严重。”她说，“那时候不叫垃圾，叫废弃物。像果皮、菜叶，它从土地里面种出来的，让它回到土地是可以的。”"In the rural areas of the early 1980s, there wasn't much pollution." she says. "It wasn't called garbage, but just something we didn't want. Like fruit peels and vegetable leaves. They grow from the ground and so should be returned to the soil." 但随着社会发展，越来越多化工生产的废弃物无法在自然中循环。很长一段时间，垃圾都被简单地混收处理：“我们最终产生的垃圾最后去填埋了，或是焚烧了。垃圾填埋场排出来的废水，那个臭味真的是让你永生难忘。”However, as society developed, more chemical products were produced and they can't be naturally recycled. During that long period, people mixed everything together during the collecting and processing phase. "I've seen the views of landfills and waste incineration. The stench of the wastewater from the landfills was totally unforgettable."
而且这些排放物，很有可能通过食物链系统，再回到人们身上。And everything people emit ended up going back in their food chain. 正因为目睹了这一切，从2006年起，陈立雯就开始关注垃圾分类的相关议题。她先后到加拿大纽芬兰纪念大学与美国南加州大学研究中国垃圾分类和回收史。2017年回国后，她从乡村开始试点，全力投入到推行“零废弃”工作里，成为一个“追垃圾的人”。Having witnessed all this, Chen began to focus on garbage sorting in 2006. She researched the history of China's waste sorting and recycling at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and the University of Southern California in the U.S.. In 2017, she went back to China and started garbage sorting projects in pilot villages, devoting herself to promoting a zero-waste lifestyle. 每天，陈立雯和村中的志愿者一起，挨家挨户收垃圾。农村的厨余垃圾比重不会低于百分之五十，像以前那样拿来堆肥，就可以大大减轻后段处理的压力。陈立雯还制订了详尽的垃圾分类方案，极力说服当地村委会和她一起把垃圾分类的体系建立起来。Every day, Chen collects garbage from every household in her village with volunteers. More than 50% of the rubbish in the rural area is kitchen waste. They can be made into compost for recycling, which greatly relieves the later process. Chen also came up with specific plans to persuade local committees to set up their own garbage sorting systems. 在农村推广垃圾分类，没有捷径可走，只有一家家上门教。“如果不对的，碰到他们在家了还是要跟他们说一声，不在家就要记一下。”陈立雯说，“一般家庭三次左右就能实现准确分类。”There's no shortcut to promoting garbage sorting except for talking with them one household after another. "If someone sorts them wrong, you may have to tell them when they are at home. We have to take notes if they're out," says Chen. "It usually takes about three times for a family to get a hold of waste sorting."
2017年，陈立雯在一个试点村内，实现了源头99%家庭的分类参与，实现了近80%的垃圾减量。In 2017, in one of the pilot villages, 99% of the households took part in garbage sorting and reduced the amount of rubbish that needed to be processed by 80%. 目前，陈立雯还要思考，怎样让这些村落的垃圾分类持续下去，让回收机制在没有志愿者监督的情况下良好运行。她说：“我最终的目标是希望，社会产生的所有的废弃物都能实现循环，从哪来回哪去，逐渐变成一个零。”Now, Chen has to think about how to keep the recycling system functioning after the volunteers are gone. "The final objective is to recycle all the waste produced by society and live a zero-waste life."
环境问题也是社会治理问题。所有的垃圾都由人产生，因此，处理垃圾也必须取决于人。垃圾分类是需要人人参与的事业。“只有汇聚每个人的力量，才能把垃圾山真正地分解。”Environmental issues are in fact governing issues. Waste is produced by people, so it's up to the people to process them adequately. Everyone must take part in the global system of garbage sorting. "With joint efforts of the world, we are capable of wiping out the garbage mountains of the future."