Class 6 Science

Garbage In Garbage Out

Learning Goals

Garbage: We produce lot of garbage on a daily basis. The household garbage contains vegetable peels, food leftovers, paper and plastic (which are used as packaging material), and many other items. Proper disposal of garbage is necessary for maintaining cleanliness in our home and surroundings.

Disposal of garbage

We usually throw garbage in the garbage bins which are kept on the roadsides. In some cities in India, garbage collectors collect garbage from every house. They dump the garbage at garbage dumping sites which are near most of the neighbourhoods.

From the garbage bins and dumping sites, garbage is collected by municipality workers. They use a huge garbage truck for this. The garbage is then taken to a landfill site.

A landfill site is usually made away from residential areas. The garbage often contains some useful items and some non-useful items. Items which can be recycled are separated and sent for recycling. Other items are left on the landfill site. Once the landfill site fills with garbage, it is covered with soil. It is left for at least 20 years before any construction can be allowed on the landfill site. Landfill site is ideal for making parks and playgrounds.

Compost

Garbage contains two types of materials, viz. biodegradable and non-biodegradable. Substances which rot and get decomposed by microbes are called biodegradable substance. Wastes from organic origin are biodegradable in nature. Biodegradable substances can be turned into compost.

Farmers often make compost from farm waste; leaves and stalks and animal dung. For this, a compost pit is dug in the ground. The waste is dumped in the compost pit and then covered with soil. After about two months, everything decomposes and appears like soil. This is compost. Compost is very good manure and helps in increasing soil fertility.

Vermicompost

Sometimes, earthworms are added in the compost pit to hasten the process of composting. Compost made with the help of earthworms is called vermicompost.

How to Reduce Garbage?

We can take certain actions to reduce the amount of garbage we produce. For this, we should follow the principles of three Rs, i.e. reduce, reuse and recycle.

Reduce

We should reduce our consumption. We should use an item when it is absolutely necessary to use that.

Reuse

We can reuse many items. For example; old newspaper can be used to make book cover. Old envelopes can be used for making rough work while solving mathematics problems.

Recycle

Many items can be recycled several times to make new items. Glass, newspaper, aluminium and some kinds of plastic can be recycled.