New words – 15 October 2018

Barbara Fischer, Australia / Moment / Getty

plastic footprint noun [C]
/ˈplæs.tɪk.ˈfʊt.prɪnt/
a measurement of the amount of plastic that someone uses and then discards, considered in terms of the resulting damage caused to the environment

As such, Greenpeace suggests a number of small changes people can make to reduce their plastic footprint. The first steps involve avoiding buying items such as plastic bottles of water and carrying a permanent or reusable one instead. It also advises using a refillable cup when buying takeaway coffee to help cut down on the estimated 2.5 billion disposable cups discarded every year in the UK.
[The Telegraph, 10 January 2018]

nonsumption noun [U]
UK /nɒn.ˈsʌmp.ʃᵊn/ US /nɑːn.ˈsʌmp.ʃᵊn/
the activity of not buying new items but instead making them or buying them second-hand, in order to minimize the damage caused to the environment

The chief factor behind this growing demand for second-hand goods is the ethos of ultra-low environmental impact, or “nonsumption”. Purists are willing to invest time in browsing the internet and junk stores rather than buying anything new (and thus bearing responsibility for creating material demand).
[Sunday Times, 15 April 2018]

bottle school noun [C]
UK /ˈbɒt.ᵊl.skuːl/ US /ˈbɑː.tᵊl.skuːl/
a school building made out of discarded plastic bottles that have been stuffed with other waste materials that would otherwise be harmful to the environment

It takes around 6,500 bottles to build a two-classroom bottle school and the whole community participates, collecting the bottles and packing them full of the other non-biodegradable trash. The final product? A community-built school and a cleaner village.
[www.huffingtonpost.com, 6 December 2017]

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4 thoughts on “New words – 15 October 2018

  1. abdul

    Hi, We want to know before banning all kinds of plastic, how many millions of workers, engineers and research scientists are working in plastic and plastic related items producing factories and research centers.People should also be aware how a ban will effect say for example, their visa master card and other money transaction cards, access cards in hotels and other buildings which use plastic? Is teflon a hard plastic (do some research)? there are so many places, teflon is used like in the microwave oven systems.

    Zip of your pant is made of plastic? if you make it using metal it will simply rust after a few washes if quality is not good and also it will spoil your other clothes due to rust sticking on to other nice clothes, may be your wedding dress? a suit, a white shirt etc if you wash the together. We don’t need plastic, rubber etc. Rubber could be more problematic due to difficulty and the carbon content it has, the rioters burn tyres you know that? So carbon footprint is left everywhere. So in future you car will be having a wooden wheel or one made of copper (not iron because it rusts)…So we have here one important question, when the opportunities are dwindling for the younger well educated gen.y, what alternative opportunities we are creating for them? All people must think and then take a well designed program to what to do with this plastic and rubber??? Are there any alternatives to do with them and have better things in market place to serve the industrial and daily needs of mankind?
    Thank you for your attention.

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