| When we throw things away into the waste bin, | | | | authorities do take pains to filter the rubbish and |
| very few of us pay any attention into what happens | | | | remove as many of the recyclables as possible, but |
| to our rubbish after it is discarded. Many of us | | | | unfortunately the rest has to be put into a big hole |
| recycle now, but what happens to all that waste that | | | | and buried. |
| can't be reused, and how damaging are landfills sites | | | | The biodegradable waste, such as food, cardboard |
| to the environment? | | | | and paper, also rots in the landfill sites, and lets off |
| We throw literally everything into our rubbish bins: | | | | methane – a very powerful greenhouse gas |
| packaging, paper, food, metals, nappies, crisp | | | | which has also detrimental effects on the |
| packets; if you can name it, it has probably been in a | | | | environment - forcing the companies that run landfill |
| rubbish bin. And the amount of waste we throw out | | | | sites, to go to great lengths to capture as much of |
| can be extraordinary too. Just think how quickly the | | | | the methane as possible before it is released into the |
| kitchen bin or wheelie bin fills up, then imagine how | | | | air. |
| many times it's refilled throughout the year. In fact | | | | However it is not all bad news and landfills are not |
| government figures suggest each UK household | | | | the monstrosity most people may think. The |
| produces over 1 tonne of rubbish annually - that's 31 | | | | methane collected on landfills is uses it to supply |
| million tonnes of rubbish each year. | | | | electricity to the National Grid, which is helping reduce |
| And all this waste, all 31 million tonnes of it, has to go | | | | the UK's carbon footprint and landfills themselves are |
| somewhere, otherwise we would all be swimming in | | | | eventually covered over and transformed into |
| our own rubbish. Fortunately many of us recycle now | | | | landscaped areas of natural beauty, quite often |
| and this helps to drastically reduce the amount of | | | | turning former quarries into nature parks. |
| annual rubbish, but not everybody does recycle, and | | | | So while it is important to recycle and be aware of |
| even those that do find not everything can be put in | | | | what happens to the rubbish we throw away in our |
| the recycling bin. | | | | waste bins, its not all doom and gloom in the rubbish |
| The rest of course ends up in landfills. Some local | | | | cycle. |