DIRECTIONS: Before you begin reading the passage, it is
important to preview the passage to understand any new
vocabulary you might encounter.
 Preview the following reading passage and underline each
vocabulary term in bold and its definition.
 Read the passage.
It’s a Dirty Job
Hi, I’m Deacon Decomposer, ace reporter for the
Decaying Daily News, and I’m interviewing a very
important person named Glenn. Glenn is a garbage man and a trash
expert.
DD: You have a difficult job. Tell us about it.
Glenn: It is a dirty and smelly job, but I know people love it when
I take away their trash. People need me to do this job.
DD: Do people produce a lot of trash?
Glenn: Well, Deacon, how well do you know your
multiplication tables? Each American throws away about seven
times their weight in trash each year. Think of a third grader
who weighs 60 pounds. That 60 pound third grader is then
responsible for about 420 pounds of garbage. All of that trash
takes up more space than two large adults!
DD: Where does all of that trash go, Glenn?
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Glenn: It is taken to a landfill, where a lot of it will probably stay
for thousands of years and some of it will be there for a gazillion
years. That’s a long time.
DD: Let me check my math, Glenn. There are 300
million Americans. If each of them produces 7
times their weight in trash, how in the world do
we have space to collect all of this garbage?
Glenn: Deacon, you are really on the ball! You just
figured out a big problem with garbage: lack of space. The more
garbage we produce, the more space our garbage will take up.
That means less room for wildlife and homes for humans.
Americans produce more trash than any other country in the
world! That’s not a first place we should be proud of earning. In
fact, that stinks worse than the garbage I collect.
DD: How can we solve this problem?
Glenn: Instead of just throwing away trash, people could recycle
some of the garbage such as glass, plastics, and
paper. This would allow people and companies to
save money because they wouldn’t have to
transport their garbage to landfills. Recycling
saves space in landfills and saves valuable natural
resources such as trees too. When humans recycle, we make our
environment a better place.
DD: Now, I understand. Recycling saves money, space in landfills,
and natural resources.
Glenn: People trying to educate others for a cleaner world have
come up with three suggestions. They are called the “3 R’s.”
1. Reduce the amount of trash you throw away.
2. Reuse the things you own.
3. Recycle whatever you can.
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DD: Tell our readers more about recycling.
Glenn: We humans think that we invented recycling with our
collections of newspapers, aluminum, plastics, and glass, but
nature has been recycling for billions of years – since life on
Earth began. Recycling means to change something from one form
to another. It’s important to remember that not only do humans
recycle when we carry our newspapers and plastics to the curb,
but when plants and animals die, nature recycles them back into
soil.
DD: Do you mean that nature puts its recyclables on the curb like
us?
Glenn: No, Deacon. Nature’s recyclers break
down the remains of dead organisms, plants
and animals, (and even poop) into smaller and
smaller pieces that become an important part
of the soil for plants to reuse. This recycling
happens very quietly every day and
sometimes beneath our very feet, but its
effect is huge. Without nature’s recycling, not only would we be
up to our heads in dead organisms, but life on Earth would slowly
come to an end. Garbage stinks, but whether you’re a human,
plant, or animal, recycling is helpful for the Earth.
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Directions: Read the question and choose the best answer. Then
mark the space for the answer you have chosen.
1. Why should we recycle?
O A. to save space in landfills, to save money, and to save
natural resources
O B. to save natural resources, to save trash, and to save
space in landfills
O C. to save natural resources, to save money, and to save
trash
O D. to save space in landfills, to save money, and to save
trash
2. Nature’s recyclers are very important because they
_________
O A. take dead organisms to the landfill.
O B. take glass, plastic, and paper to the curb.
O C. break down plants and animals which have died into
much larger parts which become part of the soil for
plants to reuse.
O D. break down plants and animals which have died into
extremely small parts which become part of the soil
for plants to reuse.
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You have just learned how humans and nature both recycle. To
show your understanding of what can be recycled, complete the
following chart. Think of the trash you threw away from your
last lunch. Complete the chart below with the items from your
lunch trash.
Nature Recycles
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Humans Recycle
5
Not Recyclable
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