• Categorized under Words | Difference Between Garbage and Trash

Garbage vs Trash

Americans are the biggest producers of waste in the whole world. They are considered to be on the top of the list when it comes to throwing waste in one day. These wastes which are removed from the households are called “garbage” or “trash” in general language but very few of us know that “garbage” and “trash” are actually two different terms meant for two different types of wastes.

Garbage

Garbage is the refuse which comes from the bathroom and kitchen. It is basically organic waste, clothing, food waste, food containers, paper products etc. It is picked up by different organizations like City sanitation Department or the Waste Control Department. All the household garbage and the paper products after getting picked are sent to the Waste-to-Energy Facility.

Trash

Trash is the waste which comes from anywhere but the bathroom and kitchen. It could be old furniture, leaves, twigs, grass clippings, junk and other products which might come under the category of hazardous household waste. The trash is picked up by different authorities of the city like the city itself and sometimes contractors are hired by County’s Commissioner’s office.

Trash after getting picked up is sent either to the Waste-to-Energy facility or landfills. Wastes like small burnable things, passenger tires etc. are sent to the Waste-to-Energy facility and items like furniture, cabinets, shingles, tree limbs, stumps, bush, appliances and construction debris and debris due to demolition are sent to the landfill.

The city does not pick up trash like paint and paint products, antifreeze, garden and lawn poisons, motor oils, , cleaners, automotive fluids, solvents, batteries, fluorescent lights, butane, acids, dead animals and infectious materials which are considered Household hazardous wastes and should be personally taken to facilities for Household hazardous waste.

The city also doesn’t pick up waste generated by contractors. Wastes like sheet rock, wood pallets, wallboards, roofing, pipes, building metals, soil, stone, wiring etc. All these wastes come in the category of trash and have to be sold to the landfills.

Landfills have days and timings when one can take the waste and sell at a particular price. The authorities have the sole right to determine the charges for the waste and the right to send the waste to appropriate disposal facilities.

Summary

1.Garbage is refuse which comes from the bathroom and kitchen of a house like organic waste, clothes, paper products etc.; whereas trash is all the other waste which does not come from bathroom and kitchen like furniture, junk, garden and lawn trash, household hazardous waste etc.

2.Garbage is picked up by authorities like City sanitation Department and Waste control Department; whereas, trash is picked up by the city or sometimes contactors are hired by County’s Commissioner’s office.

3.Garbage being mostly organic is always picked up by garbage trucks but trash generated by contactors or household hazardous waste needs to be disposed of personally by taking then to appropriate waste management facilities.