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Environment & Climate vocabulary · Waste and Recycling

Waste

Meaning in environment & climate, with examples

/weɪst/nounCore term

In environment & climate, waste means: Materials and objects that people, homes, businesses or factories throw away because they no longer need them or can no longer use them.

In Turkish: atık, çöp

How it is used

Usually uncountable: household waste, municipal waste, industrial waste, food waste, packaging waste. Waste is generated, collected, sorted, treated and disposed of. Specialists sometimes use the plural 'wastes' for different types. As a verb, waste means to use something badly: waste energy, waste water resources.

Example sentences

  1. The factory generates about 40 tonnes of waste a month, most of it packaging.

  2. All waste must be sorted at source before collection.

Common collocations

  • generate waste
  • household waste
  • food waste
  • waste collection
  • sort waste at source
  • waste managementThe collection, transport, sorting, treatment, recycling and disposal of waste, together with the planning and monitoring of these activities.
  • recyclingThe process of collecting used materials such as paper, glass, metal and plastic and turning them into raw materials or new products.
  • landfillA site where waste is buried in the ground in a controlled way, usually with a lining and systems to collect leachate and landfill gas.
  • hazardous wasteWaste that can harm people or the environment because it is toxic, flammable, corrosive or reactive, such as used oils, solvents, batteries and medical waste.
  • waste hierarchyAn order of priority for dealing with waste: first prevent it, then reuse, recycle and recover energy, and only as a last option dispose of it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Waste and Recycling

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