The circular economy - 6 Minute English

Improve your English vocabulary and listening in just six minutes!
The amount of waste we produce around the world is huge and it’s a growing problem. Recycling has partly been the solution to the issue but it hasn't been enough. Now there are calls to develop a circular economy which makes manufacturers responsible for what happens to the goods they produce. We discuss this in six minutes and teach some new - not recycled - vocabulary!

This week's question:
Which country recycles the highest percentage of its waste? Is it:
A: Sweden
B: Germany
C: New Zealand

Watch the video to find out the answer.

Vocabulary:
to separate
to divide or split different things into different categories or groups

to treat
to process or deal with, for example, recycled waste

out of sight, out of mind
a phrase that means we ignore or don’t think about what we don’t see

manufacturer
the person or company that makes a product

consumer
a person that buys a product

lifecycle
the length of time a product is designed to work for

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝟔 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬:
Why does seeing someone yawn make us yawn?

The decline of the apostrophe

Women in politics

Could you give up booze for a month?

Low emission zones

#bbclearningenglish #englishonline #englishpodcast

[心靜自然涼-fh]

Though recycling is important.Reducing the desire of buying is much more important.

[jakkrapatk]

Circular economy is that consumers return products, which have reached products m life cycle, to manufacturers for recycling, transforming into new products.
Traditional economy: make, use, dispose
Circular economy: make, use, reuse, remake, recycle

[ОлегНазаренко-чт]

Excellent. Time spent with you and your team is actually not waste of time .
.

[PlanetaSeguro]

Great tips about environmental Approaches

[almamun]

In my view, this video is outstanding.

[jimmoriarty]

great video !! could you make one about eco-anxiety ? that is, the anxiety that people get from worrying about climate change. thanks ! i've just subscribed

[jayamohan]

Waste is a big problem for the whole world wide.we should feel ourselves more risponsible to save environment.

[SalmaSultana-cj]

After running out the ink of my pen or shampoo or lotion, I always feel frustrated ! What should I do with those container !

[WandersonDavid_KariJobeBrasil]

Please, could you bring 6 Minute English episodes to Podcast? =)

[jakkrapatk]

Do more topics about mega trends:
Go green
Ageing society
Cashless society
Urbanisation
5G networks
Online university
Mobile banking
Universal Basic Income
Online shopping
Virus outbreak
Trade war
Running marathon
Food delivery
Minimalism
...and many more

[margheritaaly]

Recycling might not be a solution but it is a first step.

[romanstepanov]

Deliveries to producers will increase transportation and will rise CO2 and can cause more pollution.
Producers in many countries pay tax for their products to be recycled, which on my oppinion is the solution to this issue, so a controlled organisation will recycle instead of producers, who will need to build more utilisation productions in order to recycle their products here and there, which is not a good idea, either

[Gftrrf]

Even though recycling is the best way for saving the enviroment, but the governments are not giving it much effort
.
So sad

[containedhurricane]

The world needs better waste management

[kawinananpatanakul]

Transcript
Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript

Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English with me, Neil.

Sam
And me, Sam.

Neil
Today, we’re talking rubbish.

Sam
Ooh, that’s a bit harsh – I thought it was going to be interesting.

Neil
I mean our topic is about rubbish, not that we are rubbish.

Sam
I see. Do go on.

Neil
Thank you. So the amount of waste we produce around the world is huge and it’s a growing problem.

Sam
But, there are some things that we can do, like recycling. Where I live, I can recycle a lot, and I’m always very careful to separate - to split my rubbish into paper, metal, food, plastic and so on.

Neil
But is that enough, even if we all do it? We’ll look a little more at this topic shortly, but first, as always, a question. Which country recycles the highest percentage of its waste? Is it:

A: Sweden

B: Germany

C: New Zealand

What do you think, Sam?

Sam
I’m not sure, but I think it could be Germany so I’m going to go with that - Germany.

Neil
OK. We’ll see if you’re right a little bit later on. The BBC radio programme, Business Daily, recently tackled this topic. They spoke to Alexandre Lemille, an expert in this area. Does he think recycling is the answer? Let’s hear what he said.

Alexandre Lemille
Recycling is not the answer to waste from an efficient point of view because we are not able to get all the waste separated properly and therefore treated in the background. The main objective of our model is to hide waste so we don’t see as urban citizens, or rural citizens, we don’t see the waste, it is out of sight and therefore out of mind.

Neil
What’s his view of recycling?

Sam
I was a bit surprised, because he said recycling wasn’t the answer. One reason is that it’s not always possible to separate waste you can recycle from waste you can’t recycle, and that makes treating it very difficult. Treating means handling it and using different processes, so it can be used again.

Neil
And the result is a lot of waste, including waste that could be recycled but which is just hidden. And as long as we don’t see it, we don’t think about it.

Sam
And he uses a good phrase to describe this – out of sight, out of mind. And that’s true, at least for me. My rubbish and recycling is collected and I don’t really think about what happens to it after that. Is as much of it recycled as I think, or is it just buried, burned or even sent to other countries? It’s not in front of my house, so I don’t really think about it – out of sight, out of mind.

Neil
Let’s listen again

Alexandre Lemille
Recycling is not the answer to waste from an efficient point of view because we are not able to get all the waste separated properly and therefore treated in the background. The main objective of our model is to hide waste so we don’t see as urban citizens, or rural citizens, we don’t see the waste, it is out of sight and therefore out of mind.

Neil
One possible solution to this problem is to develop what is called a circular economy. Here’s the presenter of Business Daily, Manuela Saragosa, explaining what that means.

Manuela Saragosa
The idea then at the core of a circular economic and business model is that a product, like say a washing machine or even a broom, can always be returned to the manufacturer to be reused or repaired before then sold on again. The point is the manufacturer retains responsibility for the lifecycle of the product it produces rather than the consumer assuming that responsibility when he or she buys it.

Neil
So it seems like a simple idea – though maybe very difficult to do.

Sam
Yes, the idea is that the company that makes a product, the manufacturer, is responsible for the product, not the person who bought it, the consumer.

Neil
So, if the product breaks or reaches the end of its useful life, its lifecycle, then the manufacturer has to take it back and fix, refurbish or have it recycled.

Sam
I guess this would make manufacturers try to make their products last longer!

Neil
It certainly would. Let’s listen again.

Manuela Saragosa
The idea then at the core of a circular economic and business model is that a product, like say a washing machine or even a broom, can always be returned to the manufacturer to be reused or repaired before then sold on again. The point is the manufacturer retains responsibility for the lifecycle of the product it produces rather than the consumer assuming that responsibility when he or she buys it.

Neil
That’s just about all we have time for in this programme. Before we recycle the vocabulary …

Sam
Oh very good Neil!

Neil
Before we - thank you Sam - before we recycle the vocabulary, we need to get the answer to today’s question. Which country recycles the highest percentage of its waste? Is it:

A: Sweden

B: Germany

C: New Zealand

Sam, what did you say?

Sam
I think it’s Germany.

Neil
Well I would like to offer you congratulations because Germany is the correct answer. Now let’s go over the vocabulary.

Sam
Of course. To separate means to divide or split different things, for example, separate your plastic from your paper for recycling.

Neil
Treating is the word for dealing with, for example, recycled waste.

Sam
The phrase out of sight, out of mind, means ignoring something or a situation you can’t see.

Neil
A manufacturer is the person or company that makes something and the consumer is the person who buys that thing.

Sam
And the length of time you can expect a product to work for is known as its lifecycle.

Neil
Well the lifecycle of this programme is 6 minutes, and as we are there, or thereabouts, it’s time for us to head off. Thanks for your company and hope you can join us again soon. Until then, there is plenty more to enjoy from BBC Learning English online, on social media and on our app. Bye for now.

Sam

Bye!

[jeanl]

I've heard this before。It's an old one，right？

[jotac]

3:24 that lady has such a nice accent, doesn't she?

[ahmeddabea]

Hi my friend, i want to improve my English and practice it with a native speaker, my English is not good, can you help me, i wait you

[snowphiakim]

Could u please ~~~
Remove the Add saying
“Subscribe”
Many of us listen to these English programs repeatedly n that annoys. If we don’t hear it we might listen to BBC MORE!
Thank U for the great n free contents.

[ninhnguyen]

Recycling isn't the answer for the waste we produce. Because we are unable to separate all the waste properly. So we can apply the circular economy, or even individuals also are responsible for themselves as well as the environment, they should buy things if necessary...