Words that are often confused: rubbish, trash, garbage

In this post I’m going to talk rubbish. Does that mean I’ll be talking nonsense? No, actually I’m going to look at vocabulary connected to rubbish in the sense of household waste, including synonyms and related words.

So, rubbish is the stuff that we throw out of our homes. You may also have heard other words for the same thing: garbage, refuse, trash, litter, as well as words like dustbin and trash can.

Why are there different words for rubbish, and what’s the difference? In some cases, which word we use depends on whether we’re British or American.
Let’s try to make some sense of all this rubbish!

Words for household waste

rubbish [uncountable noun]	This is British English (BrE). British people throw away rubbish.
garbage, trash [uncountable nouns]	American English (AmE) – Americans throw away garbage and trash.
garbage vs. trash	Americans differentiate between type here: garbage is used for waste from the kitchen – ‘wet’ waste, you could say; trash is things like paper and packaging – ‘dry’ materials.
litter [uncountable noun]	This is not household waste. Litter is small things such as cans, bottles and paper that people leave lying on the streets and in other public places.
refuse [uncountable noun]	This is a more formal word for rubbish, garbage and trash. The pronunciation is /ˈrefjuːs/
dustbin, rubbish bin [countable nouns]	(BrE) A dustbin is a small container for rubbish, mostly outside. The modern type, with wheels, is called a wheelie bin.
garbage can, trash can [countable nouns]	(AmE) A small container for garbage and trash, usually outside.
litter bin [countable noun]	A small container in a street or other public place where people can put litter.

And to collect all this waste we need the following:

refuse collector, waste collector	These are formal words for the person who takes away refuse / rubbish / garbage.
dustman, bin man	These are informal words used in BrE for a refuse collector.
trash collector, garbage collector, garbage man	These are informal words used in AmE for a refuse collector.
dustbin lorry, dustcart (BrE), garbage truck, trash truck (AmE)	This is the vehicle used to take away refuse / rubbish / garbage.

 

2. Vocabulary. Fill in the gaps. Use the words from the task above. Explain your choice.

a) For the first time, researchers show that marine... can even be found at the sea surface of Arctic waters. 

b) Scientists discovered 'supramolecule' that could help reduce nuclear and agricultural....

c) Now researchers are advancing another potential approach using sugar alcohols — an abundant... product of the food industry — mixed with carbon nanotubes.

d)... collectors are important for removing...; without them... accumulates and can quickly become a health hazard.

e) Landfills can make a profit from all their rotting... and a new patent explains exactly how to make the most out of the stinky... sites.

f) A 150-foot-high... dump in Colombia, South America, may have new life as a public park.

g) Imagine if you could turn old... into new houses.

h) More than half the world's sea turtles have ingested plastic or other human..., an international study has revealed.

i) The ash is what is left when... has been burnt in thermal power stations.

j)... incineration is a widespread practice in Europe.

k) Ash from refuse could become hydrogen gas.

l) The bulla was discovered in a... dump dated to the time of King Hezekiah or shortly after, and originated in the Royal Building that stood next to it and appears to have been used to store foodstuffs.

m) But from the standpoint of obesity prevention, it is only helpful if people replace... food with healthy food.

n) A combination of pop songs, talkback radio and cutting-edge science has enabled Australian astronomers to identify a way to prevent catastrophic, multi-billion dollar space... collisions, a new study has revealed.

3. Vocabulary. Translate the words.

Resident, hazardous, debris, mining, fossil fuel, combustion, consumption, incineration, refinery.

 

4. Grammar.   Translate into Russian, pay attention to the underlined participles.

1. Many different types of waste are generated, including municipal solid waste, agricultural and animal waste (…)

2. The amount of waste produced is influenced by economic activity, consumption, and population growth.

3. Developed societies, such as the United States, generally produce large amounts of municipal solid waste.

4. Waste often was deposited on land just outside developed areas.

5. Modern landfill facilities are engineered with containment systems and monitoring programs.

5. Reading.  Answer the questions.

1. Read the headline. Try to guess what the text is about.

2. Do you know the main sources of waste?

3. Write down the words associated with wastes before reading the text and complete your list after reading.

Waste Generation

Virtually every resident, organization, and human activity in the United States generates some type of waste. Many different types of waste are generated, including municipal solid waste, agricultural and animal waste, medical waste, radioactive waste, hazardous waste, industrial non-hazardous waste, construction and demolition debris, extraction and mining waste, oil and gas production waste, fossil fuel combustion waste, and sewage sludge. The amount of waste produced is influenced by economic activity, consumption, and population growth. Developed societies, such as the United States, generally produce large amounts of municipal solid waste (e.g., food wastes, packaged goods, disposable goods, used electronics) and commercial and industrial wastes (e.g., demolition debris, incineration residues, refinery sludges). Among industrialized nations, the United States generates the largest amounts of municipal solid waste per person on a daily basis.

Waste generation, in most cases, represents inefficient use of materials. Tracking trends in the quantity, composition, and effects of these materials provides insight into the efficiency with which the nation uses (and reuses) materials and resources and provides a means to better understand the effects of wastes on human health and ecological condition.

 

6. Vocabulary. Match the term with its translation:

1) municipal solid waste 2) agricultural and animal waste 3) medical waste 4) radioactive waste 5) hazardous waste 6) industrial non-hazardous waste construction and demolition debris 7) extraction and mining waste 8) oil and gas production waste 9) fossil fuel combustion waste  10) sewage sludge

а) радиоактивные отходы b) отходы сжигания ископаемого топлива  c) твердые бытовые отходы d) промышленные неопасные отходы е) сельскохозяйственные отходы и отходы животноводства f) осадка сточных вод g) строительный и демонтажный мусор h) отходы нефтегазодобычи I) медицинские отходы j) опасные отходы k)отходы горно- добывающего и перерабатывающего производства

7. Word formation. Complete the table.

noun	verb
	generate
production
	influence
amount
	use
composition

 

8. Word formation. Give all possible participle forms of the following verbs.

Make four sentences with the participles.

Generate, include, produce, influence, develop, represent, use, provide, contribute.

9. Vocabulary. Translate the terms:

Reuse (n.), recycling, storage, disposal, land disposal unit, treatment, landfill, surface impoundment, underground injection, containment system, degraded air quality, open-burning dump, disease vector hazard.

10. Skills development. Read and translate the text.

Waste Management

    Once generated, wastes must be managed through reuse, recycling, storage, treatment, and/or disposal. Most municipal solid wastes and hazardous wastes are managed in land disposal units. For hazardous wastes, land disposal includes landfills, surface impoundments, land treatment, land farming, and underground injection. Modern landfill facilities are engineered with containment systems and monitoring programs.

    Current approaches to waste management evolved primarily due to health concerns and the need to control odors. In the past, waste often was deposited on land just outside developed areas. More recently, excavation of land specifically for deposition of wastes became common, often accompanied by burning of wastes to reduce volume, a practice eventually determined to be a contributor to degraded air quality in urban areas. Burning of wastes occurred at multiple levels, from backyard burning to large, open-burning dumps of municipal solid wastes to onsite burning of commercial and industrial wastes. Land disposal created problems such as ground water contamination, methane gas formation and migration, and disease vector hazards.

11. Skills development. Speaking.   Answer the questions. Then translate the text.

1. What approaches to waste management do you know?

2. How are wastes managed in your country (region, city, town)?

3. What did people do with wastes in the past? Was it harmful for the environment?

12. Grammar. Make participle 1 or participle 2 of the verbs in brackets.

Effects

The effects associated with waste vary widely and are (influence) by the substances or chemicals (find) in waste and how they are (manage). Although data do not exist to directly link trends in waste with effects on human health and the environment, the management of waste may result in waste and chemicals in waste (enter) the environment.

 Hazardous waste, by definition, has the potential to negatively affect human health and the environment, which is why it is so strictly (regulate). Hazardous wastes are either specifically (list) as hazardous by EPA or a state, or exhibit one or more of the (follow) characteristics: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity.

Municipal solid waste landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, (account) for approximately 18 percent of these emissions in 2012. Methane is one of several non-CO2gases that contribute to global climate change. Methane gas is (release) as wastes decompose, and emissions are a function of the total amount and makeup of the wastes as well as management facility location, design, and practices.

 

13. Vocabulary. Classify different types of wastes, complete the table.

solid

liquid

semi-liquid

containerized gaseous material

waste tires, septage, scrap metal, latex paints, furniture, toys, garbage, appliances, vehicles, oil, anti-freeze, empty aerosol cans, paint cans, compressed gas cylinders, construction and demolition debris, asbestos.

 

14. Reading.  What do you know about wastes? What problems are associated with wastes? Complete two columns of the table before reading and the third column after reading the text.

 

already know	want to know more	I’ve learnt this from the text

What is Waste Disposal?

Be it used plastic bags, broken glass, an obsolete cell phone, or used battery cells, they are all used products that require appropriate disposal to limit their harm to the environment. Waste disposal is therefore a systematic action for managing waste from its origin to its final disposal. It includes incineration/burning, burial at landfill sites or discharge at sea/lake/river, and recycling. Let us now look at various waste disposal problems more closely.