IELTS Speaking Part 1: Rubbish and recycling
The question
How do you usually deal with your household garbage?
Do you sort your garbage before throwing it away?
What do you do when you see garbage on the street?
Did you learn about recycling when you were a child?
How to answer it
The temptation is to be virtuous, and virtuous answers all sound the same. Describe what actually happens in your building — how many bins there are, whether anyone uses them properly, what the collection is like — and you have specific content nobody else has. The fourth question moves you into the past and is worth a real memory: a school project, a poster competition, a parent who was strict about it.
What moves the band
- Say bins, rubbish and food waste if you speak British English, garbage and trash if American — just be consistent within the answer.
- Recycling lexis is easy marks: sort, separate, kerbside collection, compost, single-use, biodegradable.
These are candidate recalls. These are questions reported by test-takers after their exams, not official or leaked IELTS material. Wording varies by test version, location and memory. Use them for timed practice — never as a prediction of what you will be asked.
Practise these next
Know the number. Now move it.
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