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  • Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

  • BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

  • And I'm Georgina.

  • Sorry I was late today, Georgina.

  • I'd forgotten to do the recycling

  • bins out before the rubbish

  • collection this morning. I seem to have

  • more and more plastic packaging

  • each week! Actually,

  • that's the topic of our programme.

  • With more and more household waste

  • being either incinerated

  • - that's burned - or being buried

  • underground, we'll be asking - is

  • the recycling system

  • broken?

  • China used to accept 55% of the world's

  • plastic and paper scrap - another

  • word for unwanted

  • waste - or in other words, rubbish.

  • That included waste sent over from

  • Britain. But in 2018

  • it stopped taking any more.

  • Other countries like Indonesia and

  • Vietnam took over China's waste

  • processing role. But

  • they too are now sending much

  • of the scrap back, arguing it is

  • contaminated and it is

  • harming their own environments.

  • This has created major problems for

  • countries in the West who traditionally

  • relied on others

  • to process their recycling waste.

  • And the problem isn't going away.

  • In fact we are creating more

  • household waste than

  • ever. So here's my quiz question.

  • On average, how many kilograms of

  • household waste were

  • generated per person in the UK

  • last year? Was it:

  • a) 280 kg, b) 480 kg or c) 680 kg?

  • That sounds like a lot of waste!

  • I'll say a) 280 kg.

  • OK. We'll find out later if you were right.

  • Although nowadays people

  • are recycling more,

  • the use of plastic isn't decreasing at the

  • same rate. The BBC

  • World Service's programme

  • The Inquiry spoke to Roland Geyer,

  • a professor at the University of

  • California about the

  • current situation.

  • There's been a real raise

  • in consciousness which is fantastic

  • and I'm really glad that

  • now it seems the public at large is really

  • interested in this issue and appalled and

  • wants to do something about it, wants

  • to change it. But at the same time

  • I don't see yet any

  • real action that would make things better

  • because while all of this is happening the

  • virgin plastic industry is actually

  • increasing its production capacity.

  • Workers who process recycling are often

  • exposed to dangerous waste materials

  • which can harm

  • them. Professor Geyer says there

  • has been a raise in consciousness

  • about this problem

  • - meaning that people are being

  • told about an unfair situation with

  • the aim of asking

  • them to help change it. Now, professor

  • Geyer is an American and

  • he uses 'raise' as a noun.

  • The main problem comes from

  • virgin plastic - original, unused plastic

  • containers. These

  • are made directly from fossil fuels like

  • crude oil or natural gas - major sources

  • of carbon

  • dioxide and climate change.

  • But consciousness raising of this issue

  • is having an impact. The public

  • at large - meaning

  • most people in the world, rather than just

  • some of them - are concerned

  • about the increase

  • in plastic waste and want

  • to do something to help.

  • However, it's not always easy to know

  • what the best way to help is.

  • Another expert, Professor Monic Sun,

  • believes that focusing only

  • on recycling may not be

  • the best idea. She conducted

  • psychological experiments to find out

  • more about peoples'

  • attitudes to recycling...

  • ..and surprisingly found that if people

  • know recycling is an option they

  • tend to use more

  • resources. They reduce any guilty feelings

  • by telling themselves that the material will

  • be recycled anyway.

  • We have the slogan of 'Reduce, Reuse

  • and Recycle' and the priority should

  • be exactly that - reduce

  • and reuse is better than recycling. And the

  • cost of recycling is often not emphasised

  • enough. People perceive recycling

  • to be great but there's actually

  • significant labour and

  • material costs associated with recycling.

  • Professor Sun mentions 'Reduce, Reuse

  • and Recycle' as a useful

  • slogan - a short, easily

  • remembered phrase, often used to

  • promote an idea, in this case

  • that we should all do what

  • we can to protect the environment.

  • But while protecting the planet is

  • a common goal, recycling in itself may

  • not be so important.

  • It's better to reduce and reuse

  • than recycle, so these two objectives

  • should be emphasised

  • - highlighted as being

  • especially important.

  • Do you remember my quiz question?

  • I asked you how many kilograms

  • of waste the average

  • British person generated last year.

  • I reckoned it was a) 280 kg.

  • That would be bad enough, but

  • the real answer is b) 480 kg.

  • Multiply that by the UK population

  • of 66 million and you start to see

  • the size of the problem!

  • Today we've been talking about the

  • problems associated with

  • recycling scrap - another

  • word for rubbish.

  • Western countries used to send their

  • rubbish to China for recycling

  • but this caused issues

  • for the local environment. Some groups

  • raised consciousness about

  • the problem - made people

  • aware of the situation to encourage

  • them to help change it.

  • The public at large - most people in the

  • world - are now aware of the need

  • to 'Reduce, Reuse

  • and Recycle', the slogan - or short,

  • memorable phrase - used by

  • environmentalists to spread

  • their message.

  • A related problem is the increase

  • of virgin plastic - original, unused

  • plastic made from

  • fossil fuels. Recycling is unable

  • to keep pace with virgin plastic

  • production, so instead

  • reducing and reusing plastic should be

  • emphasised - highlighted as being

  • especially important.

  • And that's all from us. Bye for now.

  • Bye.

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