The distinction between garbage and trash

Many individuals believe that “trash” and “garbage” refer to the same thing: items that we discard. Despite the fact that many people have been using them interchangeably for years, the two phrases are not the same. You might even be required to segregate your “trash” from your “garbage” by your local solid waste management in order for them to pick up your refuse. How do they vary then? Continue reading.

Table of Contents Definitions

The word trash is derived from the Old Norse word tros, which is translated as “fallen leaves and twigs.” These days, it refers to any dry, combustible, or noncombustible items that you throw away.

The waste that decomposes slowly, for example:

• old paper
• unused plastic bottles
• empty glass jars or bottles
• Padded cardboard
• faulty furniture
• aluminum or tin cans
• Wood or shavings from a tree
• dated tires
• dated equipment
• lawn cuttings
• inert leaves
• Twigs

The term “garbage” was first used in writing in the 1580s. The original definition stated that it referred to “the parts of an animal (such as the head, tail, feet, and innards) that are not eaten.” American English speakers now use the term to describe the organic waste from your kitchen and bathroom that is quickly degrading.

Examples of trash include:

• Peels of fruits and vegetables
• Eggshells
• animal remains
• espresso grinds
• unpalatable roots, seeds, or stems
• Hygiene tissue
• Garbage vs. Trash
• So what makes a piece of trash different from a piece of garbage?

Dry, slowly degrading garbage, such as paper, cardboard boxes, bottles, plastic, tires, etc., is referred to as trash. On the other hand, garbage describes the wet, quickly decomposing trash from the kitchen and toilet, such as animal parts, eggshells, fruit and vegetable peels, sanitary tissue, etc.