IELTS Speaking – a time when you saw something old being reused in a creative way

Yes, we've started doing it properly over the past year. We keep food scraps in one bin, recyclable things like bottles and cardboard in another, and everything else separately. To be honest, it was a hassle at first, but now it's become second nature, and the amount of general waste we produce has dropped noticeably.

It's getting more common, but it's still quite informal. The local authority has only just introduced separate collection days. Most recycling is actually done by scrap collectors who cycle around buying old newspapers, cans and plastic bottles. In a way, they've been running an efficient recycling system for decades without anyone calling it that.

If they're still in good condition, I give them to my younger cousins or donate them to a charity that sends clothes to mountainous areas. Old T-shirts that are worn out get cut up and used as cleaning cloths. I almost never throw clothes straight in the bin, because it feels so wasteful.

Probably, yes, especially packaging. Whenever I order things online, they arrive wrapped in layers of plastic and bubble wrap, and most of it ends up in the bin. I've been trying to cut down by choosing shops that use less packaging and by carrying my own bottle and bag, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

A couple of years ago I visited a small café in Da Lat that had been built almost entirely from reused materials, and it really stuck in my mind. The most striking object was the counter, which had been made from an old wooden fishing boat. The owner had found it abandoned on a southern beach and bought it for almost nothing. The boat had been cut in half lengthways, sanded down and varnished, but you could still see the original blue paint and the name of the boat on one side. It wasn't just the boat, either. The lampshades were made from old fish traps woven from bamboo, the tables were former sewing machine stands, and the plant pots on the windowsill were broken teacups. Even the menu was written on pieces of reclaimed roof tiles. I thought the idea was brilliant, for a couple of reasons. First, it was genuinely beautiful; everything had a story, which made the place feel warm and full of character in a way that mass-produced furniture never could. Second, it changed the way I think about rubbish. I'd always assumed that reusing things meant making them look cheap, but this café proved the opposite. Since then I've started looking at old objects at home and asking whether they could have a second life before I throw them out.

Part of the problem is habit. People have thrown everything into one bin for years, and changing a routine requires effort, even a small one. Many people are also sceptical: they suspect that sorted waste ends up in the same landfill anyway, which, unfortunately, is sometimes true. And because the benefits of recycling are invisible and long-term, there's little immediate reward. Clear information and small incentives, like deposits on bottles, can make a real difference.

Absolutely. Manufacturers decide how products are packaged, so it seems fair that they share the cost of dealing with it afterwards. In several countries there are already schemes where companies pay a fee based on how much packaging they use, which pushes them to design lighter, recyclable alternatives. Without that kind of pressure, businesses have little reason to change, because the cost of waste falls entirely on local governments and taxpayers.

No, I don't think it is. Recycling is useful, but it's really the last step. Many materials, especially certain plastics, can only be recycled once or twice before they become unusable, and the process itself uses energy. The more effective approach is to reduce what we consume in the first place and reuse things for longer. In other words, it's better to turn off the tap than to keep mopping the floor.

The most effective methods are practical rather than theoretical. Schools could ban single-use plastics in the canteen, set up clearly labelled bins in every classroom, and even run competitions between classes to see who produces the least waste. Projects like growing vegetables using compost from school food scraps let children see the cycle with their own eyes. When kids learn these habits young, they often bring them home and influence their parents, too.