Question 1 What is garbage? Give few examples of garbage?
Question 2 What will happen is garbage is not removed from our homes and surrounding regularly?
Question 3 What is meant by biodegradable garbage and non-biodegradable garbage? Give two examples of each type?
Question 4 What type of garbage is collected in blue dustbin and green dustbin?
Question 5 Name two components of garbage?
Also Read NCERT Solutions for Chapter 16 Garbage In Garbage Out
Contents
Garbage
Waste materials (or rubbish) especially household wastes, are called garbage.
Examples of Garbage
(1) The peels of fruits and vegetables
(2) Left-over cooked food
(3) Fallen leaves of potted plants
(4) A large number of packaged products such as flour (atta), rice, pulses, biscuits, chocolates, milk and oil, etc, which are packed in plastic bags, cardboard cartons, paper wrappers, plastic containers, tins and many other kinds of packing materials. All the packing materials are useless and go out as garbage.
(5) We also tear off various kinds of papers and throw them into dustbins. The waste papers also generate garbage.
(6) Some old, unwanted and useless plastic objects such as polythene bags, plastic bottles and containers, broken plastic toys etc.
(7) A lot of glass article such as used glass bottles, other glass containers, broken window panes, broken mirrors, and broken glass tumblers.
(8) Many old and useless metal objects such as aluminium shoes and slippers are also thrown away as garbage.
(9) The old clothes, discarded shoes and slippers are thrown away as garbage.
Every time we throw away something, we are producing garbage. Though the garbage produced by a single person may be small but a small amount of garbage thrown by many, many persons in an area can make a big heap of garbage.
If garbage is not removed from our homes and surroundings regularly, our home and surrounding will become dirty. Some of the garbage (like left-over food) will rot giving off foul smell. The rotting garbage will become a breeding ground for disease -causing organisms such as cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes. They will spread diseases to us.
(1) The garbage collected in dustbins in our homes, shops, offices and schools is taken away by sanitary staff of our area and put into big garbage dumps constructed by the Municipality at various locations.
From the garbage dump, garbage is loaded into trucks and disposed of in a number of ways depending on the nature of garbage.
Dealing with Garbage
Garbage has two types of components in it : useful components and useless components.
(1) Those things present in garbage which can be converted into useful products, recycled or reused are called useful components.
(2) Those things present in garbage which can neither be used in any way nor recycled are called useless components.
The useful components of garbage are also of two types:
(a) Fruit and vegetable peels, left-over cooked food (called kitchen waste) and fallen leaves, etc., which can be converted into compost.
(b) Used paper, some plastics, glass and metal articles which can be recycled or reused.
Biodegradable Garbage
Garbage such as fruit and vegetable peels, left-over cooked food and fallen leaves, etc, rot (or decay) when buried in soil for some time. They are biodegradable. Actually, when fruit and vegetable peels, left-over food and plant leaves are buried in soil, they are decomposed by the micro-organisms (tiny organisms) present in soil to form harmless substances.
Non Biodegradable Garbage
The garbage such as plastic bags, glass bottles and metal articles (aluminium foil, etc.) do not rot (or decay) when buried in soil. They are non-biodegradable. The garbage such as plastic bags glass bottles and metal articles cannot be decomposed by the micro-organisms present in the soil.
The part of garbage which can rot (or decompose) in nature to form harmless substances is called biodegradable. All the garbage from plants (such as fruit and vegetable peels, left-over food, leaves, paper, cotton, jute etc.) and from animals (such as wool, silk, leather and cow dung) is biodegradable. Biodegradable garbage is also known as organic waste.
The part of garbage which does not rot (or decompose) in nature is called non-biodegradable. The garbage which consists of plastics, glass and metal objects is non-biodegradable. All the garbage which is not derived from plants or animal sources is non-biodegradable.
Getting rid of non-biodegradable part of garbage is a problem because it does not rot or decay when buried and some of it (like plastics) gives poisonous gases when burned.
In some cities and towns, the Municipality provides separate dustbins for collecting the two types of garbage.These dustbins have different colours: one is green and the other is blue. The green dustbin is for collecting kitchen wastes and other plant and animal wastes (which can be used to make compost). The blue dustbin is for collecting waste materials such as plastics, glass objects and metal articles which can be recycled and used again.
| Notes for Chapter 16 Garbage In Garbage Out |
Very useful and helpful
These explanation really helps and are easy to understand. Courage to authors, you are helping community.
Thank you Ms Shilpa Nagpal, for this source, it’s really help me to start my teaching career in a school, even students are also understanding it very easily.
Once again thank you so much madam.