We may have different words for the things we throw away...

ABOUT ARD

People usually talk about three different sorts of rubbish:

§domestic - rubbish from households

§industrial and commercial - rubbish from factories, offices, shops and schools

§hazardous - rubbish which needs to be disposed of in a careful way to prevent pollution, for example, chemicals used to make paint

If chemicals find their way into rivers or streams they can cause harmful pollution, which may kill wildlife …AND NOT ONLY! For example

If rubbish from dustbins… is allowed to overflow, then the streets become filled with litter…

Rubbish is made up of different substances and materials:

§biodegradable rubbish – organic material which breaks down naturally in the environment and eventually disappears. For example, left-over food and paper

§non-biodegradable rubbish - does not break down naturally in the environment. For example, drinks cans and plastic bottles

Each household produces about one tonne of rubbish annually. Each year, in the UK, households throw away over 29.1 million tonnes of waste, that's the same weight as 4.85 million male African Elephants!

Today's rubbish compared to pre-1960s rubbish, contains more products that don't break down when they're put in the ground.

The amount of rubbish we throw away is increasing for a number of reasons:

new packaging materials and technology are being developed…

lifestyle changes, for example a greater reliance on convenience/fast food

increasing affluence, increasing population, leading to greater consumption of goods…

Paper plastic wood glass steel aluminum compost Papier Szkło Aluminium kompost tworzyw sztucznych stal drewno