Pollution is the process of making air, water, soil, etc. dirty, and waste is the act of using something in a careless or unnecessary way, causing it to be lost or destroyed. Waste and pollution are frequently used words when discussing the environment.
Fill the gap in each sentence with one word or expression from the box. Look up the words in Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries and use the information in the entry to help you.
air quality, bottle bank, clean up, landfills, plastic, pollute, pollution, recycle, reuse, waterspout
1. Air ____________________ can cause breathing problems and disorders in the nervous system.
Click here to reveal the answer.2. Electric cars are quieter and cheaper to run and do not ____________ the environment.
Click here to reveal the answer.3. I always take empty bottles to the _______________.
Click here to reveal the answer.4. Instead of recycling, you can also ____________ any jars or bottles from food that you buy.
Click here to reveal the answer.5. Glass that is thrown away and ends up in __________________ will never decompose.
Click here to reveal the answer.6. Most UK families throw away about 40kg of ______________ per year.
Click here to reveal the answer.7. Poor ______________ in cities is a serious environmental problem.
Click here to reveal the answer.8. Some countries now ______________ over 50 per cent of their waste.
Click here to reveal the answer.9. Thousands of volunteers joined the drive to ________________ Britain’s beaches.
Click here to reveal the answer.How many did you get? Let us know in the comments!
Want more?
You can build your topic vocabulary with the groups of words related to the environment, such as waste and pollution, in this mini-dictionary.
Why not try our Conservation (A1-B2) vocabulary exercise too? Or try a harder activity with our Waste and pollution (C1-C2) words?
Thanks Learn English with Oxford
My example sentences;
-People don’t like to see any pollution although they are doing nothing to clean up.
-Shell company in Nigeria was recorded polluting the river near the village.
-There aren’t so many bottle banks in Turkey.
-Reusing plastic water bottle so many times can be dangerous.
-China has got criticised by its citizens for its air quality.
-Landfills are not meant to be place where seagulls can feed themselves.
-Recycling plastics makes me very happy, but it isn’t enough for world.