Waste, recycling

Description of different kinds of waste – household or domestic, industrial, toxic, carcinogenic,

persistent, bio-accumulative, municipal solid (=trash/=garbage), construction, medical,
biodegradable, non-biodegradable, nuclear, hazardous, radioactive, dangerous, harmful, poisonous,
recyclable, organic, human, garden
waste: the useless materials, substances, or parts that are left after you use something
rubbish or (formal) refuse /‘refju:s/: things that you throw away because they are no longer
useful, such as old food, paper or plastic used for wrapping things, and empty containers
(collocations: domestic = household, garden)
litter: things such as pieces of paper that people have dropped on the ground in a public place,
making it untidy (example: The park and river are full of litter.)
garbage: (mainly American) rubbish that is to be thrown away
trash: (American) rubbish such as paper and plastic bags
junk: old, broken, or useless things (example: You should get rid of all that junk in your garage.)
landfill or landfill site: a large hole in the ground where waste from people’s homes or from
industry is buried
compost: a mixture of decaying plants and vegetables that is added to soil to improve its quality
dump or dumping ground: a place where large amounts of waste are taken, usually outside a town
and often illegal
scrapyard or junkyard: a place where you take old or broken vehicles or machines so that their
parts or metal can be sold (šrot)
nuclear waste storage site
bin: a container for putting rubbish in. A bin without a lid for paper or other dry rubbish is also
called a waste paper basket and a large bin that is kept outside is also called a dustbin

What do we do with rubbish?

clear, collect, dump, remove, throw out/ away, dispose of, get rid of, treat=process, eliminate =
reduce = cut down on, recycle, produce,
recycle, reuse, reduce
separate = sort /separation = sorting
Municipal solid waste is collected / sorted, processed and disposed

Different methods of disposal of waste – composting, incineration, dumping

Rubbish can be sorted for recycling in bins = bottle banks
Biodegradable waste becomes compost. Organic waste in landfills can be re-used in the form of
biogas which comes from natural decay.
Composting is a way to recycle your garden and kitchen waste and it greatly helps to reduce the
volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills for disposal. Furthermore the composted garden
waste of organic origin can be turned into fertilizer.
Incineration is a disposal method that involves combustion of waste material. Incinerators
convert waste materials into heat, gas, steam and ash. Combustion in an incinerator is not always
perfect- some micro-pollutants in gaseous emissions from combustion may have serious
environmental consequences. On the other hand it is possible to obtain energy from burning.
Recycling is the process of changing waste materials so that they can be used again. Some
materials can be recycled almost indefinitely- aluminium is a good example. Others become more
difficult to free from contaminants. There are two main ways how to recycle: material recycling
(such as pulping paper or melting metal) and chemical recycling.
Some recyclable materials: batteries, cans, cardboard, engine oil, fluorescent tubes, glass,
organic garden waste, paper, plastic bottles, scrap metal, textiles, timber (wood used for building
houses or making furniture)
Some people drop litter in the streets. Some dog owners do not clean up dog dirt / droppings.

Waste disposal in our school:

There are two main kinds of waste in our school- firstly chemicals and secondly domestic rubbish
(scraps in the kitchen, paper, plastic bottles, cans,...)
Recycling bins are installed in classrooms, corridors, teachers´offices

In order to be better informed about the problems of disposing of municipal waste our class have
taken a couple of field trips to -
 SÚRAO = RAWRA= The Radioactive Waste Repository Authority. Its mission is to ensure
the safe disposal of existing and future radioactive waste (RAW) which remains from
nuclear power plants, from different industries and medicine in the Czech Republic and to
isolate it from biosphere for many thousand years.
 Dump/ landfill site in Ďáblice - a place where large amounts of Prague´s waste are taken

 Incineration plant in Malesice – there is the highest (smoke)stack in Prague 180m high,
four incinerators burn 310,000 tonnes of solid waste per year

As some chemicals in the labs are hazardous waste they cannot be poured down the sink. There
are standard procedures for disposal of chemicals that must be followed.

Your family recycling habits - Do you separate rubbish? What items do you usually recycle? Do
you reuse any items? How can you reduce domestic rubbish?
(reuse a shopping bag, promote returnable bottles and other containers, buying recycled paper...)