📘 Part 3: Recycling and Waste

This episode's vocabulary

Threadbare (adjective) – becoming thin and damaged from too much use. → Example: His old, threadbare coat wasn't warm enough for winter.

Get by with (phrasal verb) – to manage to do a particular thing using only what you have. → Example: You can probably get by with second-hand clothes for most occasions.

Posh (adjective) – elegant or stylishly luxurious. → Example: You might need new clothes for a posh event.

Hand down (phrasal verb) – to give something to a younger member of your family when you no longer need it. → Example: People often hand down clothes to their younger siblings.

Chuck out (phrasal verb) – to throw away something you do not want anymore. → Example: It's better to recycle clothes than to just chuck them out.

Countrymen (noun) – people from your own country. → Example: Everyone wants to believe their countrymen are responsible people.

Surplus (noun) – an amount that is more than is needed. → Example: The market often produces a surplus of goods regardless of demand.

Waste reclamation (noun) – the process of getting useful materials from waste. → Example: I don't know enough about waste reclamation to comment on it.

Crisis fatigue (noun) – a state of exhaustion and desensitization caused by prolonged exposure to stressful situations or bad news. → Example: People are suffering from a kind of crisis fatigue and struggle to care about environmental issues.

Shell out (phrasal verb) – to pay a lot of money for something, often unwillingly. → Example: With second-hand clothes, you don't have to shell out for new ones all the time.

Sort out (phrasal verb) – to arrange things systematically in groups or according to type. → Example: People should sort out their rubbish properly for recycling.

Home composting (noun) – the process of creating a pile of decaying organic material in your garden to use as fertilizer. → Example: People can learn how to arrange home composting to reduce food waste.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Do you think it's a good idea for children to wear second-hand clothes?

Rory: Usually, yeah. They might not be a perfect fit, but provided they aren't threadbare then it's a good way to save money.

Maria: Can you explain it further?

Rory: Yeah, generally these things tend to cost less than things that are in the shops so you can probably get by with them just as well, unless you need to go to some kind of very posh event then they might not be suitable.

Maria: What do people usually do with unwanted clothes or household items where you live?

Rory: I'm not sure, though I'd like to believe they recycle them or hand them down to their siblings or children to use. We even have recycling centers for clothes so it would make sense to send them there rather than just chuck them out.

Maria: Has that always been true?

Rory: I really can't say for sure, though I suppose everybody wants to believe their countrymen are good and responsible people, don't they?

Maria: How can recycling and reusing items help reduce waste?

Rory: Well, if you have something already, then you don't need to get something new and companies don't need to produce as many new things. At least that's how it should work in theory. I'm sure the market will produce a surplus of goods regardless, but recycling might reduce the demand and in turn reduce the surplus.

Maria: Do you think that will also be true in the future?

Rory: Unless the system of economics radically changes then I suppose so, yeah.

Maria: What more can governments and individuals do to better manage their waste?

Rory: I don't really know. Maybe they could fund more opportunities to recycle and take advantage of them, or make the process more efficient and effective, but I don't know enough about waste reclamation to say for sure if that's possible.

Maria: And how likely do you think that is?

Rory: Well, just based on what I've seen and heard, I'm none too confident about it. I think people are suffering from a kind of crisis fatigue and really struggle to care about things like that these days.