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Here another listening you can try to do about the impact of plastic...

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Here another listening you can try to do about the impact of plastic...

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The UK government has recently introduced a small charge of 5p on plastic bags in English supermarkets to try to stop people using them. Neil and Alice take a look at the environmental impact of mass-produced plastic bags and plastic in general. They also teach some related vocabulary.

This week's question

How many tonnes of plastic rubbish from the UK is being sent to China each year for recycling? Is it:

a) 20,000?

b) 200,000?

or c) 2,000,000?

You can hear the right answer at the end of the programme.

Vocabulary

Transcript

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

Don't you follow the news, Neil? It's a recent government initiative - which means a new plan for dealing with something - in this case, to cut the number of thin plastic bags being given away in shops. And the environmental impact of plastic is the subject of today's show.

Good. Now let me ask you today's quiz question, Neil: How many tonnes of plastic rubbish from the UK is being sent to China each year for recycling? Is it:
or c) 2,000,000?

No. They take hundreds of years to decompose - or break down by natural chemical processes. And also people don't dispose of them properly. They litter our streets. They clog - or block - drains and sewers. They spoil the countryside and damage wildlife.

At this company laboratory in North London they're testing how bags made with a special additive break down when exposed to sunlight, oxygen and heat... The technology was discovered by a British scientist in the 1970s and is now sold to around half the world's countries. In some, biodegradable bags are backed by law.

So adding small amounts of a chemical to the plastic - a special additive - allows the plastic to break down in the open air. But if the technology was discovered back in the 1970s, why aren't these biodegradable bags being used in every country by now?

Biologist Dr Pennie Lindeque from Plymouth Marine Laboratory
We're already finding that there's a lot of microplastics in the sea and that some of these microplastics are actually being ingested by the zooplankton that live there. We're also concerned this could end up being passed up through the food chain to food which is destined for human consumption so it could end up on your or my plate.

Indeed. OK. Remember my question from earlier? I asked: How many tonnes of plastic rubbish from the UK is being sent to China each year for recycling? Is it...
or c) 2,000,000?

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BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English / The impact of plastic

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The UK government has recently introduced a small charge of 5p on plastic bags in English supermarkets to try to stop people using them. Neil and Alice take a look at the environmental impact of mass-produced plastic bags and plastic in general. They also teach some related vocabulary.