Do you know what happens to the waste that we throw out every day?

We throw kitchen waste, plastic bags and food wra,ppers. We also throw old stuff such as old clothes, shoes, toys, etc in the trash.
What happens to the trash that is taken from our homes?
It is carried to an open area called landfill.
It is separated into reusable and non-reusable garbage.
Some of it goes into holes in the ground and is covered with soil. These holes are called composts. After a few days, these wastes convert into manure, which can be used in agriculture.

Like in the picture below, the garbage is separated for recycling. There are separate dustbins for reusable and non-reusable waste.

Other places also burn their garbage. It is done especially to dry leaves and paper. This produces many harmful gasses which pollute the air and is harmful to humans. It is better for the environment if we try to avoid such practices.

Another way of disposing of the waste is to do vermicomposting. You use worms to decompose waste like vegetable and fruit remains. You can do it at home. This way you won’t have to throw away much kitchen waste and you can have worms as pets.
For vermicomposting,
You need a deep and wide container.
Next, you have to prepare the soil that you would use to fill the container.
Mix the soil thoroughly with manure. You can also mix dried animal dung into it.
After putting the soil in the container, add some water but do not put excess water. Just enough to make the soil damp.
Make sure the soil is loose so that enough air passes through it.
Now you can add worms to the soil such as red worms.
You can give fruit and vegetable wastes to the worms as food by burying them under the soil surface so that worms can easily find them.

Many times, a lot of effort and time is wasted in sorting waste as recyclable and non-recyclable.
However, with a little effort, we can find better ways to recycle trash and avoid the accumulation of excess garbage in landfills.
Recycling paper and paper products is the easiest task to do. We can make several paper products from used papers and charts, like diaries, files, photo frames, etc. With a little processing, paper can also be used to make many beautiful figures and decorative pieces.

Recycling plastics is a bit more difficult. You can find different types of plastics lying all around us, such as carry bags, packaging plastics, and hard plastics.
The use of plastic does not create problems. However, it is a problem when we use plastics too much and ignore the need to dispose of them properly. Plastic interferes in the lives of aquatic animals. They get entangled in the loose plastics and might die.

Some plastics would not be the best choice for some purpose. For example, it is not a good idea to use plastically bag bags to store cooked food.

In addition, plastics give out harmful gasses when heated or burned. They are very harmful to our health. Animals accidentally swallow plastic bags when looking for food inside them and sometimes die.
Plastics also block drainage systems. This may cause severe environmental effects if left unchecked.
If it rains heavily, the blocked drainage would not remove water as quickly and flood-renditions may arise.
The government has taken many steps and made several laws that prevent plastic usage and safeguards the people from its harmful effects.

We can also take several steps to prevent the overuse of plastics. These would include not throwing plastics here and there. We use plastic bags, again and again, we use cloth or jute bags for shopping, and do not burn plastics.

And just like that, you have finished the online revision of the chapter- Garbage in, Garbage out from your Class 6 NCERT Science textbook. Did you find it interesting? You can find more interesting stuff to read and learn at SeekoG and have fun while learning. On this online learning platform, you could do quick revisions within a few minutes and master a lesson in no time using SeekoG mind maps. You can also check your mastery over the topics through SeekoG Diagnostic Tests and get an in-depth analysis of your performance through SeekoG Diagnostic Reports. SeekoG 1:1 Tuitions are available where you can find the best tutors online to help strengthen the areas of the chapter in which you need improvement. These online MCQ tests also prepare you for various competitive exams and Olympiads at school as well as help you in CBSE board exam preparation.