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People throw out 100,000 chopsticks every day here in Vancouver.
在温哥华，人们每天会丢弃十万根免洗筷。
But now, this local company is upcycling them into shelves, cutting boards, and furniture.
然而现在有家当地公司正在将这些免洗筷升级再造成书架、砧板与家具。
Can it help reduce the massive amount of single-use items in restaurants around the world?
它能帮助全世界的餐厅减少这种一次性餐具的使用吗？
We visited ChopValue's headquarters in Canada to find out.
为了找出答案，我们拜访了位于加拿大的 ChopValue 总部。
ChopValue drivers pick up used chopsticks from over 300 restaurants around Vancouver a couple times a week.
ChopValue 一个礼拜会有两次从温哥华附近大约三百间餐厅收集用过的免洗筷。
Typically about 100 kilograms a day, up to 150.
通常一天能收集到 100 公斤左右，最多 150 公斤。
Pre-COVID, it was more closer to like, 300 kilograms a day.
在新冠疫情之前，比较接近每天 300 公斤左右。
The restaurants part with them for free.
餐厅们会免费将免洗筷送给他们。
After they got in, I believe all 5,000 pairs being recycled and reused.
在他们来了之后，我想应该有共 5000 双免洗筷被回收再利用了。
So, it's a great thing.
所以这确实是不错。
The real work begins at ChopValue HQ.
真正的作业则在 ChopValue 展开。
The founder, Felix Böck, calls this place a micro-factory.
创办人 Felix Böck 将这个地方称为微型工厂。
Just like a microbrewery, curious visitors can come in and see how small batches of tiles get made.
就像微型酿造坊一样，好奇的拜访者们能够走进工厂，并参观小批量的砖片是怎么制造出来的。
And this is how the process looks like from raw material to end product.
这就是从原料到最终产品的整个制程看起来的样子。
First, they sort the chopsticks on the custom-built shaker table.
首先，他们会先在这张特制的摇动分离桌上将免洗筷分类。
These neat stacks are easier to work with.
书架整齐之后更好处理。
Then they dip the sticks into a water-based resin.
接着他们将免洗筷浸入一种水性的树脂内。
That provides a protective coating before they roast in a massive oven for five hours.
在它们被放入巨大的烤箱中烘烤超过五小时之前，这能作为一个保护性的涂层。
The 200-degree heat kills all the germs.
200 华氏度的高温可以杀死所有细菌。
It smells like a bakery.
闻起来像是个面包店一样。
They need to get separated again so they can be spread out evenly for the next step.
接着要再次进行分离，好让它们在下个步骤中能分散均匀。
You can take your frustration out on the day inside here.
你可以把平日的不满都发泄在这里。
They're weighed precisely.
它们接着被精准地测量重量。
This batch will make ChopValue's thinnest tile.
这一批免洗筷会拿来做成 ChopValue 最薄的砖片。
So about 560 grams.
所以大约是 560 公克。
Then comes the big squeeze.
接着就是大力挤压的时候了。
A hydraulic machine, also invented by Böck's team, compresses the chopsticks with hundreds of pounds of pressure.
一台同样由 Böck 的团队所发明出的液压机器会以数百磅的压力压缩这些免洗筷。
The heart of the process that densifies like a cake, a mat of chopsticks, into a new, uniform, engineered material.
整个工序的核心是把像是蛋糕一样的一片免洗筷，聚合成一个全新、统一的工程材料。
Which is the base modular tile used for all of our end products.
而这就是用在我们所有最终产品上的基本模块。
The tiles can be sanded and assembled into furniture, and also cut into smaller products like coasters, or even domino pieces.
这些砖片能被研磨并组装成家具，并也被切成较小型的产品，像是杯垫，甚至是骨牌等等。
This desk sells for just under $1,000.
这个桌子售价仅低于 1000 美元一些。
That's about three times what you'd pay at Ikea, but comparable to the price of a desk made from solid wood.
这大约是宜家桌子的三倍价格，但与一张由实木制作的桌子价格相仿。
This piece is made from about 10,000 chopsticks.
这张桌子由约一万根免洗筷制成。
ChopValue also takes custom orders.
ChopValue 也接受客制化订单。
We could do large countertops, or boardroom tables, or pretty much anything like that.
我们能够制作大型流理台台面、卧室桌子，或是任何之类的东西。
Since 2016, the company has upcycled 33 million chopsticks that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill.
从 2016 年开始，该公司已升级再造了 3300 万根原本可能会被丢进垃圾掩埋场的免洗筷。
But in China, people use that many wood utensils in one lunch break.
然而在中国，全国光是一顿午餐就会用上那么多的木制餐具。
There, people throw out 130 million pairs every single day.
在那里，人们每天会丢弃 1 亿 3 千万双免洗筷。
That means leveling entire forests for a product most people use for just one meal.
这代表光是为了生产这个人们大多只会用上一餐的产品，就得夷平一整座森林。
It's not just Asia.
不只是亚洲而已。
Consumers around the world contribute to this problem.
全世界的消费者们都得为这样的问题负责。
We all have this drawer filled with plastic cutlery, chopsticks, condiments that we never asked for.
我们都有一个塞满了各种我们没主动要求，却随餐附上的塑料餐具、筷子、调味料等的抽屉。
Inexpensive, they're cheap, they just come in without you even asking for them.
它们相当便宜，就算你不主动索取也会附上。
Sheila Morovati is the woman behind the Cut Out Cutlery campaign.
Sheila Morovati 是“除去餐具”活动背后的主使者。
Her organization pressured major delivery apps to opt out of sending cutlery by default.
她的组织迫使各主要外送服务应用程序将附上餐具默认为不需要。
She estimates that saved well over 200 million utensils from going to landfill.
她估计这么做已挽救了 2 亿个免洗餐具最终被丢弃至垃圾掩埋场的命运。
Good job, Sheila.
做得好，Sheila。
Activists in China tried a similar strategy.
中国的推动者们也尝试了一个类似的策略。
In 2017, they sued their country's biggest food delivery apps, trying to force them to stop giving cutlery by default.
在 2017 年时，他们控告了该国最大的餐饮外送应用程序，试着想逼迫他们停止将给予免洗餐具作为默认选项。
There was a public outcry at the time, but since the pandemic, food delivery with single-use items is higher than ever.
在当时引发了大众的共鸣，但自从疫情开始之后，附带单次使用餐具的饮食外送服务达到了有史以来的高峰。
So we may never eliminate disposables completely.
因此我们可能永远都无法消除免洗餐具的使用。
That's why Sheila says upcycling is so important.
这就是为什么 Sheila 表示升级再造相当重要。
If there are opportunities like that to use something that was going in the trash or headed to landfill, why not?
如果能有利用这些本来会丢进垃圾堆或掩埋场里的东西的机会，那何乐而不为呢？
We have so much trash right now, and it's just, we're at the limit.
我们现在的垃圾量实在太多了，已经到达了极限。
The planet can't take it anymore.
地球已经没办法再承受了。
When ChopValue first started, it was only making coasters.
在 ChopValue 刚创立的时候，他们只有制作杯垫而已。
Now it has franchises in three cities in North America, with more expected later this year.
现在它在北美的三个城市有经销商，并在明年还预计开张更多。
Coasters are still the No. 1 selling item, but the collection has grown to more than 30 products.
杯垫仍是他们的销售冠军，但他们现在已有超过 30 款产品。
And Felix Böck hopes his invention will show people that the next big idea for reducing waste could be right at our fingertips.
Felix Böck 希望他的发明能向人们展示，其实减少垃圾的重大发想，可能就在我们的弹指之间。
You put a few tiles and a few hexagon shelves on your wall, and you can point your friends to your wall and say, "Hey, guess what? I have 1,800 chopsticks on my wall."
把一些砖片和一些六角书架挂在墙上，然后指着它跟朋友说：“嘿，你知道吗？我的墙上有 1800 根免洗筷哦。”
And you start a conversation about sustainability or about recycling.
然后你就能开始一段关于可持续性或是回收的对话。
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