2023届高考英语三轮复习·冲刺押题·外刊阅读理解训练 (22)

2023届高考英语三轮复习·冲刺押题 外刊阅读理解训练22 ——改编自Coca-Cola Trials Turning Hard-to-Recycle Plastic Into Bottles 【文章】 Coca-Cola is taking a step toward sustainability by implementing technology that recycles hard-to-recycle plastic materials into new bottles. The company's largest European bottler, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, is sponsoring a Netherlands-based startup that will create food-grade recycled plastic from plastics that would typically be sent to landfills or incinerated. Current supplies of recycled plastic are scarce, which keeps companies using oil as a cheaper and more abundant option. "This new technology is critical to improving access to recycled material for bottles," said Wouter Vermeulen, Coca-Cola's senior director of sustainability and public policy in Europe. The goal is to raise the proportion of recycled materials in packaging to 50% by 2030. Coca-Cola reports having achieved around a quarter of its objective so far. The new process, developed by CuRe Technology, requires that plastics undergo a partial depolymerization method, which cleanses and partially breaks down the substance before reassembly into recycled material. This technique not only removes color from polyester but also turns it into transparent PET pellets. A study commissioned by CuRe stated that its process yields 65% lower greenhouse-gas emissions than new plastic production. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners invested in CuRe Technology in 2020, followed by a second-round investment this year. A plant is expected to produce roughly 25,000 metric tons of recycled plastic annually by 2025. While a significant portion of the output will go to Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, it will represent only a small amount of its feedstock, which is currently around 200,000 metric tons of polyester per year in Europe. As part of its effort to become sustainable, Coca-Cola aims to cease using oil to produce plastic bottles by 2030 since packaging accounts for approximately 40% of Coca-Cola Europacific