BBC LEARNING ENGLISH
6 Minute English
?Is the recycling system broken
This is not a word-for-word transcript
Neil
Hello This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English I’m Neil
Georgina
And I’m Georgina
Neil
Sorry I was late today, Georgina I’d forgotten to take 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
Georgina
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
Neil
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
Georgina
This has created major problems for countries in the West who traditionally
relied on others to process their recycling waste
Neil
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
c) 680 kg
Georgina
That sounds like a lot of waste I’ll say a) 280 kg
Neil
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
Professor Roland Geyer
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
Neil
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
Georgina
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
Neil
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
Georgina
However, it’s not always easy to know what the best way to help is
Neil
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…
Georgina
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
Professor Monic Sun
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
Neil
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
Georgina
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
Neil
Do you remember my quiz question? I asked you how many kilograms of waste
the average British person generated last year
Georgina
I reckoned it was a) 280 kg
Neil
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
Georgina
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
Neil
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
Georgina
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
Neil
And that’s all from us Bye for now
Georgina
Bye
VOCABULARY
scrap
unwanted waste material; rubbish
public at large
most people (in the world), rather than just some of them
raise consciousness
develop awareness of an unfair situation, with the aim of making people want to
help in changing it
virgin plastic
original, unused plastic containers before anything else is done to it– made
directly from crude oil or natural gas
slogan
short, easily remembered phrase, often used to advertise an idea or product
emphasised
highlighted as being especially important; drawn attention to
