Filip,13, found what he thought was a normal plastic (塑料的) duck on his local beach in the Orkney Islands. But it turns out the little plastic duck has quite a backstory. After considering “throwing it away”, Filip and his mum Marion looked closer and discovered that it’s been missing for nearly two decades (十年) after disappearing from its home. “It said world record duck race, Ireland 2006,” Marion said. “After so many years in the sea, it has even still got its number on the back!”
In 2006, people came together in Ireland’s capital city, Dublin, to try and break the world record for the largest ever plastic duck race. Around 150,000 ducks were released, with the plan being that they would travel one mile down the River Liffey. Well it’s safe to say that one of these rubber ducks went rather “off-quack” by at least 423 miles. That’s a small estimate of how far the duck would have travelled to get to Stronsay, one of Scotland’s remote islands in Orkney, where it washed up on a beach.
While duck races can be fun, there is a more serious side to them when plastic is released into the water and not collected. Because plastic doesn’t easily biodegrade (生物降解), it can hang around for ages polluting seas and oceans where it can harm the animals and plants living there.
Generally speaking, a plastic bag takes around 20 years to biodegrade, and for a plastic bottle this can take up to 250 years. This is why many rubber duck races now make sure to collect their ducks before they compete for freedom. Maybe it’s time to leave the swimming to the real-life ducks?
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