Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
The podcast that also gives you gorgeous grammar and high-level vocabulary as well as joy and fun.
And maybe some pronunciation in the future.
For a high score.
A nine score.
This episode is sponsored by IELTS Speaking for Success Premium.
IELTS Speaking for Success Premium is not only the podcast.
It's webinars.
It's super writing samples. for a very high score written by Mr. Rory Duncan Fergus.
Rory, what are your thoughts?
Oh, it's too... to think of all of my surnames.
However yes, you do get all of that, and another advantage of subscribing to IELTS Speaking for Success Premium is that you don't have to listen to ridiculous adverts like this.
Yeah, we don't have any ads and we're gonna have grammar episodes and also pronunciation episodes on our premium.
Rory, so what's our coincidence going to be today?
Oh, I don't know if it's a good idea to have a coincidence.
I mean, we're always recycling the same joke, aren't we?
We're going to be talking about recycling today.
People thought we were going to do something original, but we're not.
We're just recycling the same joke.
Robbie, do you recycle?
I suppose I try to.
Whether or not I'm successful is another matter entirely.
I think I'm better at reusing things or making them last than recycling them.
What kind of things do you recycle?
Well...
You can recycle just about everything these days, can't you?
I suppose the things that I recycle the most are things like bottles and bags.
I don't think.
I think everything that hasn't contained food at some point can be recycled.
And even then, some containers you just wash out and it's fine.
Did you learn about recycling when you were a child?
At school.
I think it's more common nowadays.
We used to be told a few things about it in class, but I don't think I think it's as comprehensive as it is now.
People learn about the process of recycling and where everything goes, how to do it yourself at home.
So I think they probably get it more than I used to.
Is it easy to recycle where you live?
Well, actually in my hometown, in Dundee, I think it's mandatory, actually to the extent that it's actually ruined the schedule for the bins getting taken out.
In Moscow, it's more of a voluntary process.
You have recycling bins and you can choose whether or not to use them.
Do people usually recycle in your hometown?
Well, like I said, they have to.
I think it's like a local ordinance or law or something like that.
So, for example, you have to organize things into different bins.
Like, every household has two or three different color coded bins, I suppose is the best way to describe them.
And then you have to organize different things into the different bins.
But.
I don't quite understand how that works or what prevents somebody from just throwing everything into the one bin.
Like, are the people who pick up the bins going to refuse to take this or something like that?
I'm not sure how it works, to be honest with you.
Do you think recycling is important?
Well, it's certainly not unimportant, but it isn't my highest priority.
To be honest, I...
I don't really think it's something that individual people should have to worry about.
I think it's probably easier to send all the rubbish to a recycling centre or something and have all the sorting and everything done there.
Rather than getting people to do it themselves.
Because if you give people their own individual bins for each kind of thing to recycling so say you have a glass bin and a plastic bin and a food waste bin then you've just created all of these plastic products.
And surely that can't be so good.
Would it not be easier just to pay people to organize it for you?
I mean, that might be less.
What's the word?
Production intensive, I guess, is the right one.
So for me, it makes it's important, but not for the right people, I think.
Maybe that's an unrealistic idea, but that's my opinion.
Have your attitudes towards recycling changed over the last couple of years?
Well, yes, because I've got that more developed idea about how recycling should function.
Although, generally speaking, I think I'm probably more environmentally friendly now than I used to be.
But I haven't, or at least I don't think I've made any major changes to my lifestyle.
Maybe I reuse things more than recycling them.
But is that because it saves money or is that because I just want to recycle more?
Probably more the former than the latter.
Will you keep recycling in the future?
I'll keep trying to, but it would be very helpful if the infrastructure for it was more developed in Moscow.
And certainly if it became more efficient back home, it would be much better, I think.
Rory, thank you very much for your answers.
Grammar and vocabulary for a high school.
So this verb recycle.
So as this coincidence joke was, we can recycle jokes.
We can recycle materials.
We also at school we recycle.
So what's going on?
We do, yeah.
Recycle is Well.
I actually think recycle has a very specific meaning, but most people use recycle and reuse to mean the same thing.
So...
Let me get this right in my head.
I think reuse is to take the same item and use it again, but maybe for a different purpose, whereas recycle is you return the product and it's cleaned and everything to be used again for the same purpose.
I'm pretty sure that's the definition and the difference between those two things, but most people I know use it to mean the same thing.
Unless they're talking about garbage, then they talk about the recycling, like the garbage, for example, or the trash, or the rubbish.
But about education, we can like recycle material.
Oh, yeah.
Well, in the same way, you use the same material for the same purpose with a different class.
But you also... Teachers recycle material, right?
Yeah, but you also recycle vocabulary.
Which means that you just use the same vocabulary in a different context.
So it's kind of the same.
But in IELTS, usually recycling is about the environment.
Usually.
And we say, I recycle, I reuse things.
And Rory said, I make things last.
Right.
Yeah, if you make something last, then you use it in a way that means that it's not used so quickly.
It doesn't become damaged and useless so fast.
And different things can be recycled. passive voice.
And also we can say that we sort out our rubbish.
Yeah.
So if you sort out your rubbish, it's organized into different kinds.
So you could have glass in one bin and paper waste in another bin, for example.
Yeah, food waste in another bin.
Bin, like a trash, rubbish bin or trash can.
Or we can call them recycling containers, right?
Can you?
I don't know.
I always just call them the bins.
Recycling bins.
Okay.
Bins.
So you put your trash into the recycling bins.
Or you can say separate the trash into different bins.
Yes.
When the examiner asks you, what do you recycle?
Here you can shine.
So you can say like aluminum cans.
Aluminum.
What do you call this material?
Aluminum.
Aluminium, yeah.
Aluminium cans, juice cartons, plastic bags, plastic straws, egg trays, containers, yogurt cups.
So these are all specific words to denote specific things.
Yeah.
Do you recycle plastic straws, Rory?
Well, the only time I ever have a plastic straw is when I'm at a bar, which is almost never.
And so to be honest, not really.
But then it's not my job.
It's the job of the people who are cleaning up to do that.
What about batteries?
Can you recycle batteries?
No, you just take them to a special batteries bank and perhaps they're taken to a special recycling center.
I didn't know that you could do that, but maybe I will know more in the future.
Yeah, and all these things can be called recyclables.
And Rory, you've mentioned that it's mandatory to recycle in your hometown.
Mandatory?
Yeah, it's like it's the law.
You have to do this.
Or compulsory, we can say.
But in Moscow, it's voluntary.
Yes, so you have a choice.
You can recycle or you can choose not to recycle.
I think it's really difficult to recycle in Moscow.
I don't know how to do it, but that could just be because I don't read the notices on the bins.
Oh, it's really complicated.
But now we have different recycling bins, but people tend to toss everything into one container.
Well, it's easier.
Maybe it gets organized for you.
Who knows?
Dear listener, could you like on Instagram?
Could you post your comments about like do you recycle in your country and what do you do?
It's interesting to know, like, different traditions and, like, what do you do to recycle?
Because in Moscow it's, like, all over the place.
But now we are more aware about recycling.
And Rory is now environmentally friendly.
Well, I try to be.
Whether it's successful or not is more difficult to say.
So all this waste and food waste goes to a recycling centre, yeah?
Do you call this a recycling centre?
I call it a recycling centre.
It's probably got a different name now, but that seems the easiest option to choose.
But if they just ditch all the rubbish on a special place, we call it landfill.
Yeah, or the dump.
The dump.
Rubbish dump.
So, for example, I think that I should reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites or landfills.
That's why I recycle.
Rory, do you sometimes use or buy recycled stuff?
Like you don't buy new stuff, but you buy stuff made out of recycled materials.
Not consciously.
I can't remember the last time I did anything like that.
You're not really green, are you?
Well, not consciously, no, but it's difficult.
I'm busy.
I have things to do.
I don't really buy things that often apart from food.
And if you buy recycled food, then you're going to get ill.
Secondhand food.
I bought recycled paper once.
You can recycle paper.
The quality wasn't very good.
Maybe it's different now.
What about your hometown?
You've used the word, like it's a local law or ordinance?
Yes, an ordinance is like an order.
But an order is usually given in the context of like the military or something similar to that.
Whereas an ordinance is well it talks about, it's a way of talking about an order from the local government.
So it's a civilian process.
But you could just say it's a local law and it's the same thing.
But, you know, for a band nine score, clearly you want to use the word ordinance.
Yeah, but it's a local law.
And you can use it for different things as well.
Ordinance is like, well, it's like ammunition for guns, for example.
So you've got one word with different meanings.
It's very efficient.
Thank you very much for listening.
Please share your ideas about recycling and how you recycle in your country.
And don't forget to recycle.
Or at least try and recycle, like me.
Practice the three R's.
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
But never recycle your jokes.
Unless you're us, then you can get away with it all the time.
Yeah, we are recycling the coincidence joke.
Bye.
Bye.
Robbie, do you recycle?
I suppose I try to.
Whether or not I'm successful is another matter entirely.
I think I'm better at reusing things or making them last than recycling them.
What kind of things do you recycle?
Oh, well...
You can recycle just about everything these days, can't you?
I suppose the things that I recycle the most are things like bottles and bags.
I don't think.
I think everything that hasn't contained food at some point can be recycled.
And even then, some containers you just wash out and it's fine.
Did you learn about recycling when you were a child?
At school.
I think it's more common nowadays.
We used to be told a few things about it in class, but I don't think it's as comprehensive as it is now.
People learn about the process of recycling and where everything goes, how to do it yourself at home.
So I think they probably get it more than I used to.
Is it easy to recycle where you live?
Well, actually in my hometown, in Dundee, I think it's mandatory, actually to the extent that it's actually ruined the schedule for the bins getting taken out.
In Moscow, it's more of a voluntary process.
You have recycling bins and you can choose whether or not to use them.
Do people usually recycle in your hometown?
Well, like I said, they have to.
I think it's like a local ordinance or law or something like that.
And so, for example, you have to organize things into different bins, like every household has two or three different color coded bins, I suppose is the best way to describe them.
And then you have to organize different things into the different bins.
But I don't quite understand how that works or what prevents somebody from just throwing everything into the one bin.
Like are the people who pick up the bins going to refuse to take this or something like that?
I'm not sure how it works, to be honest with you.
Do you think recycling is important?
Well, it's certainly not unimportant, but it isn't my highest priority.
To be honest, I...
I don't really think it's something that individual people should have to worry about.
I think it's probably easier to send all the rubbish to like a recycling centre or something and have all the sorting and everything done there.
Rather than getting people to do it themselves.
Because if you give people their own individual bins for each kind of thing to recycling so say you have a glass bin and a plastic bin and a food waste bin then you've just created all of these plastic products.
And surely that can't be so good.
Would it not be easier just to pay people to organize it for you?
I mean, that might be less.
What's the word?
Production intensive, I guess, is the right one.
So for me, it makes it's important, but not for the right people, I think.
Maybe that's an unrealistic idea, but that's my opinion.
Have your attitudes towards recycling changed over the last couple of years?
Well, yes, because I've got that more developed idea about how recycling should function.
Although, generally speaking, I think I'm probably more environmentally friendly now than I used to be.
But I haven't, or at least I don't think I've made any major changes to my lifestyle.
Maybe I reuse things more than recycling them.
But is that because it saves money or is that because I just want to recycle more?
Probably more the former than the latter.
Will you keep recycling in the future?
I'll keep trying to, but it would be very helpful if the infrastructure for it was more developed in Moscow.
And certainly if it became more efficient back home, it would be much better, I think.
