Waste Recycling

Waste, Rubbish, Trash, Garbage, Litter, Refuse — all these words mean things which we throw away.

When you throw something away, it goes in a garbage can or plastic bag for litter. Regularly the garbage truck comes and the can is emptied or the bags are taken away, and that’s the last you see of it. But what do you think happens to the garbage then? Does it just disappear? No way!

Most of what we throw away goes into holes in the ground which are called landfills or garbage dumps. Now we are making so much garbage that in many places, there is not enough room to bury it all. We have to cut down the amount of garbage we make. How can we do it? We can recycle (which means re-using materials instead of throwing them away) and precycle (which means not buying things that can’t be re-used, like plastic wrapping and some other packaging). These questions are the topic of this unit.

Land pollution has many causes. The over-use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, oil spillages and the leakage or dumping of hazardous waste are among them. But though important, none of these compare in volume with that of ordinary rubbish. Much of this is household waste, the plastic sacks of paper, plastic, metal and glass collected every week from people’s homes. This is a typical list of waste produced by every one of us each year:

100. dustbins of rubbish; 2 trees-worth of paper and board; 90 drink cans; 100 food and petfood cans; over 100 bottles and jars; 45 kilos of plastic.

Much of that could be saved for other uses and not simply destroyed. Glass, metal, paper, plastics, textiles, used motor oil, wood — all of these things are recyclable or re-usable. In fact, 80% of what we throw away could have been used again: that means that, out of every 5 dustbins of «rubbish», 4 contain valuable recyclable materials.

What is often forgotten is that it is us who have to pay to have it cleared up. In the country and even in towns, it is an enormous danger to people and animals alike. Hundreds of accidents to children and thousands of deaths of animals are caused every year by thoughtlessly discarded waste.

We all know how unpleasantly piles of litter look and how they ruin the appearance of our towns, beaches and countryside. Even, when waste disposal sites are well controlled, there is an ever present risk of pollution. Many people are now worried about the dangers of the by-products from decomposing waste soaking into the ground and getting into rivers and lakes.

On top of that, when things decompose, they give off gases such as methane and carbon dioxide which add to the greenhouse effect. It is estimated that certain plastics will take over 400 years to disintegrate, that is why it is important to introduce more recyclable plastic, which can be melted down and re-used. Containers like our soft drink bottles are made of material which could be recycled into other packaging. We can now often see the symbol «Biodegradable material» on many packaging and products, which means that the material (i. e., plastic) can break down and disappear into the soil. This is done by adding starch to the material and this gives the soil bacteria something to feed on when the plastic is buried in the rubbish tip. But even this is not always the solution to the problem. If biodegradable materials are dumped together with non-biodegradable wastes which surround them and prevent the access of oxygen, it is very hard for biodegradable materials and even vegetable waste to decompose. That is why recyclability is preferable to biodegradability.

A lot of what we throw away has been made from raw materials which are not renewable. That is to say, once we have used them all up and thrown them away, there won’t be any more — ever. Then there is the waste of energy, most of which comes from coal, gas or oil which are also non-renewable resources. Throwing away an aluminum beer can or a copy of «The Times» has been compared to pouring away the equivalent of a beer can half filled with petrol. It takes 20 times as much energy to make new aluminum as it does to melt down recycled aluminum, 4 times as much energy to make new steel as recycled, almost twice as much to create new paper and half as much again to make new glass.

Exercise 8. Read the texts “Waste” and “Waste Recycling” once again and find in them English equivalents to the expressions given below:

Waste

1. небольшое будущее для ядерной энергии, 2. действительные экономические вычисления, 3. беря во внимание огромные суммы, 4. опасные отходы, 5. потребительское общество, 6. и сотни других веществ, 7. безвредный мусор, 8. надеяться на лучшее, 9. как бомба замедленного действия, 10. предметы, которые принято собирать.

Waste Recycling

1. полиэтиленовый пакет для мусора, 2. мусоровоз, 3. сельскохозяйственные удобрения, 4. нефтяные разливы, 5. отходы повышенного риска, 6. обычный мусор, 7. банки из под пива и других напитков, 8. ценный восстановимый материал, 9. огромная опасность, 10. тысячи смертей животных, 11. кучи мусора, 12. внешний вид наших городов, 13. просачивающийся сквозь землю,14. парниковый эффект, 15. пластиковые бутылки, 16. биоразлагаемый материал, 17. при добавлении крахмала, 18. решение проблемы, 19. доступ кислорода, 20. банка из под пива наполовину наполненная бензином.

Exercise 9. Using the following questions, discuss the waste recycling problems:

Questions:

1. Is there any future for nuclear power in Russia/ Canada/ …?

2. Why do most developed countries try to separate asbestos, heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium, and hundreds of other substances from harmless rubbish?

3. Could we hope for the best if we have always been to throw everything into land fill sites?

4. How many toxic sites have been described by experts as a time bomb? How many toxic sites are there in your country?

5. What per cent of waste is recycled in Britain/ Germany/ Canada/ your country?

6. Where does the garbage go when you throw it away? Does it disappear?

7. How can we cut down the amount of garbage we make?

8. Which of the land pollutions are the most dangerous?

9. What is a typical list of waste produced by every one of us each year?

10. Is it possible to reuse some of materials?

11. What per cent of what we throw away could have been used again?

12. What problems may arise from decomposing waste of the by-products?

13. How long will it take to plastic to disintegrate?

14. Are there any ways to introduce more recyclable plastic?

15. What does the symbol “Biodegradable material” mean?

16. Which is preferable recyclability or biodegradability? And why?

17. Are coal, oil and gas renewable resources?