So the amount of waste we produce around the world is huge and it's a growing problem.
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. 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, or C: New Zealand? What do you think, Sam? I'm not sure, but I
think it could be Germany so I'm going to go with that - Germany. 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. 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. What's his view of recycling? 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. 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. 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. Let's listen again. 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. 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. 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. So it seems like a simple
idea – though maybe very difficult to do. 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. 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. I guess this would
make manufacturers try to make their products last longer! It certainly would. Let's listen
again. 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. That's just about all we
have time for in this programme. Before we recycle the vocabulary … Oh very good 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, or C: New Zealand? Sam, what did you say? And I said I think it's
Germany. Well I would like to offer you congratulations, because Germany is the correct
answer. Now let's go over the vocabulary. Of course. To separate means to divide or split
different things, for example, separate your plastic from your paper for recycling. Treating is
the word for dealing with, for example, recycled waste. The phrase out of sight, out of mind,
means ignoring something or a situation you can't see. A manufacturer is the person or
company that makes something, and the consumer is the person who buys that thing. And
the length of time you can expect a product to work for is known as its lifecycle. Well the
lifecycle of this programme is 6 minutes, and as we are there, or thereabouts, it's time for us
to head off.