Chapter 12: Taking Charge of Waste

Chapter at a Glance

On National Cleanliness Day, children and their teacher clean a park. In our daily lives we create a lot of waste, such as old clothes, tins, bottles, paper, fruit and vegetable peels, plastic wrappers, pencil shavings and old batteries. When waste is not managed, it piles up on roadsides. Cows can die from eating plastic mixed with food, burning plastic releases harmful gases, and dirty water on roads breeds mosquitoes that spread diseases.

We can manage waste ourselves. The first rule is to Reduce: buy only what we need, carry cloth bags, avoid packaged food and plastic bottles, and share old toys and books. The second rule is to Reuse: our grandparents made quilts from old sarees and bags from old clothes. We can use one-side-used paper for rough work, refill steel or copper bottles, wrap gifts in newspaper and make toys and paper bags from waste.

Places like Silluk in Arunachal Pradesh (a ‘zero waste village’), Chhota Narena, Indore and Mysuru are known for cleanliness. We should separate waste into two bins. The green bin is for wet waste like peels, leaves and eggshells, which rots and becomes compost. The blue bin is for dry waste like metal, glass, plastic and paper, which can be recycled into new things. On National Cleanliness Day, 30 January, we pledge to keep ourselves and our surroundings clean: ‘Want not, Waste not.’

Word Meanings

Important Topics

1. How Waste is Created

• Old clothes, tins, bottles, paper, peels, plastic wrappers, pencil shavings, batteries.
• Packaged products, take-away food and decorations create extra waste.

2. Problems Caused by Unmanaged Waste

• Animals like cows die after eating plastic.
• Burning plastic gives off harmful gases.
• Garbage makes people ill.
• Standing wastewater breeds mosquitoes that spread diseases.

3. Reduce

• Buy only what we need and use things until they are no longer usable.
• Carry cloth bags; avoid plastic bottles and wrappers.
• Share old toys and books with those who need them.

4. Reuse

• Make quilts from old sarees and bags from old clothes.
• Use one-side-used paper for rough work.
• Refill steel or copper bottles.
• Wrap gifts in newspaper or old cloth.
• Make toys, paper bags and decorations from waste.

5. Clean Places of Pride

6. Separate Your Waste

• Wrap sharp things like broken glass in paper so that sanitation workers are not hurt.

Question-Answers

Very Short Answer Questions

1. When is National Cleanliness Day? 30 January.
2. Name two things that create waste. Plastic wrappers and fruit peels.
3. What happens when plastic is burnt? It releases harmful gases.
4. What is the first rule of managing waste? Reduce.
5. What did our grandparents make from old sarees? Quilts.
6. Which village is called a ‘zero waste village’? Silluk, Arunachal Pradesh.
7. Name two clean cities. Indore and Mysuru.
8. Which bin is used for peels and leaves? The green bin.
9. Which bin is used for plastic and glass? The blue bin.
10. What does wet waste turn into? Compost.

Short Answer Questions

Q1. How does unmanaged waste harm us?

Garbage makes people sick. Plastic kills animals that eat it, burning plastic pollutes the air, and dirty water breeds mosquitoes that spread diseases.

Q2. How can we reduce waste?

Buy only what we need, carry cloth bags, avoid packaged food and plastic bottles, and use things for as long as possible.

Q3. How can we reuse things?

Use one-side-used paper for rough work, refill a steel bottle, wrap gifts in newspaper, and turn old clothes into bags or quilts.

Q4. Why do we use two different dustbins?

Wet waste goes in the green bin and becomes compost. Dry waste goes in the blue bin and can be recycled. Separating them makes both easier.

Q5. What is recycling?

Recycling means making new things from used metal, glass, plastic or paper.

Long Answer Questions

Q1. How can we manage waste? Explain.

First, we should reduce waste by buying only what we need and avoiding plastic. Second, we should reuse things like bottles, paper and old clothes. Third, we should separate wet waste into the green bin and dry waste into the blue bin. Wet waste becomes compost, and dry waste is recycled into new things. We should never throw or burn waste in the open.

Q2. How did places like Silluk become clean?

The people of Silluk worked together to keep their village clean. They did not throw waste on the roads, separated their waste, made compost and recycled materials. They planted trees along the streets. Their village became so clean that it won an award as a zero waste village.

Textbook Exercise Answers

A1. How is waste created? By throwing away packaging, food scraps, old clothes, paper, bottles and broken things in our daily activities.

A2. How can we manage waste? By reducing, reusing, separating wet and dry waste, composting and recycling.

B1. Plastic items and safe replacements (sample).

B2. Green and blue bin items.

• Green bin: vegetable peels, dry leaves, leftover food.
• Blue bin: paper, plastic bottle, glass jar.

Separate your waste (from the list).

C. Poster (sample title): “Clean Village, Happy Village”.

D. Enact in pairs. The clean town says, “I feel fresh and happy; people love walking on my streets.” The dirty town says, “I feel sad; garbage makes my people sick.”

E1. Zero-waste birthday party. Use steel or leaf plates instead of plastic, cloth or paper decorations, home-made food, return gifts wrapped in newspaper, and put leftover food in the compost.

E2. Waste in nature. In a forest, dried leaves and animal waste rot and mix with the soil, making it rich. Nature has no garbage.

Other in-text questions

• Ways to keep home and classroom clean: keep my room tidy, use dustbins, not litter, and clean my desk.
• Cleaning tools: broom, mop, dustpan, duster, scrubber, bucket, vacuum cleaner.