Every day, we all throw things away — wrappers, bottles, empty cans and waste paper. This rubbish creates a lot of waste. It spoils our surroundings and can harm wildlife.
We don’t have to throw rubbish away. We can recycle it. This means using old things to make new things.
Look how messy litter is!
Our rubbish is collected every week. We forget about it. But rubbish does not just go away. Someone has to deal with it. If you just put your rubbish into a bath it would fill 100 baths every year!
Sometimes, people leave rubbish lying around. This is called litter. Litter spoils the look of the countryside, as well as towns. When litter piles up, it can also smell terrible. Just sniff your dustbin!
Waste can harm wildlife.
Shops, hospitals, farms, factories and power stations all produce different kinds of waste. Some of this waste is poisonous and harmful to wildlife. If waste pollutes (dirties) a beach, it can take years to make it clean again.
More people in the world means more waste.
When there were fewer people, waste did not matter so much. Now, big towns and cities are found in most parts of the world. The large numbers of people living everywhere produce lots of waste.
Look in your dustbin.
The type of rubbish we throw away has changed over the years. About 70 years ago, most of the waste in the bin was ash and dust from coal fires that were used to heat houses. That is how “dust” bins got their name!
A lot of rubbish today is packaging. Many products are wrapped up or put in boxes. Once we take out the product, we throw away the packaging.