Why You Shouldn’t Flush Contact Lenses Down the Toilet 為什麼你不該把隱形眼鏡丟進馬桶沖掉
精英翻譯社轉自: http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=1230894&day=2018-09-10
◎劉宜庭
Contact lenses don’t last forever, so what do you do with yours when it’s time to discard them? Scientists are hoping your answer isn’t, flush them down the toilet or toss them into the sink.
隱形眼鏡不能永久配戴，那麼你會怎麼拋棄它們？科學家們希望你的答案不是把隱形眼鏡沖進馬桶，或丟進洗手槽。
That’s because a new study finds that discarding contacts lenses in these ways may ultimately end up contributing to microplastic pollution in waterways. Microplastics measure under 0.2 inches （5 millimeters） in length — about the size of a sesame seed or smaller — and can wind up in the ocean and Great Lakes, posing a potential threat to aquatic life, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
因為一項新的研究發現，以這類方式拋棄隱形眼鏡，最終可能造成水道的塑膠微粒污染。根據美國國家海洋暨大氣總署（NOAA）說法，「塑膠微粒」的長度小於0.2吋（5公釐），等大或小於一粒芝麻，它會流入海洋及北美五大湖，對水生動物構成潛在威脅。
But what happens to these lenses when they’re swept down the drain? They end up in wastewater treatment plants. Wastewater is also mixed with a variety of bacteria, which are tasked with breaking down biological waste. This, ultimately, is what could lead to the formation of microplastics, the researchers said.
不過，這些鏡片被沖進排水系統會發生什麼事？它們最後會抵達污水處理廠。由於污水還混雜著分解生物廢料的各式微生物，研究人員說，最終可能導致塑膠微粒的生成。
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