discarded plastic/plastic discarded

Question

HiPlease tell me the differenceThey removed the discarded plastic waste/plastic waste discarded in and around the hilly regions.

RevoniK · Accepted Answer

"They removed the discarded plastic waste in and around the hilly regions."

In this sentences, both "discarded" and "plastic" are adjectives modifying waste. It seems a bit redundant, because most waste is inherently to be discarded.

"They removed the plastic waste discarded in and around the hilly regions."

In this sentence, "discarded" is a verb.

Vsuresh · Answer

Hi Revonik
Thank you for your reply.
The explanation on waste and discarded is quite convincing. However the difference is not clear.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

RevoniK"They removed the discarded plastic waste in and around the hilly regions." In this sentences, both "discarded" and "plastic" are adjectives modifying waste.

RevoniK"They removed the plastic waste discarded in and around the hilly regions. "In this sentence, "discarded" is a verb.

I have a curious question along with a couple comments. What is the purpose of "in" in the above sentences? I read the sentences over a few times but it just didn't sound right to my ear.

Also, anything discarded is commonly considered waste. I think the meaning of "discarded" is pretty much self- explanatory. " Millions of discarded plastic bottles are recycled each year at this site". In this similar sentence, "discarded" is a passive verbal adjective attributive to " plastic bottles".

Millions of plastic bottles discarded by consumers are recycled each year at this site. The property of " discarded" has not changed, even though the word order had, it remains a passive verbal adjective, NOT A VERB.

CalifJim · Answer

vsureshPlease tell me the difference
They removed the discarded plastic waste/plastic waste discarded in and around the hilly regions.

Someone has already mentioned the problem of redundancy when you place 'discarded' in front of 'plastic waste', but the general difference in this type of construction is that when you place the participle after the noun it modifies, it will group with the following words.

They removed [the discarded boxes] [along the beach].
~ [The discarded boxes [that they removed]] [were located] [along the beach].

They removed [the boxes] [discarded along the beach].
~ [The boxes [that they removed]] [had been discarded along the beach].

The general meaning is the same, but the first sentence mentions 'discarded' as something fairly intrinsic about the boxes (They were no longer useful), whereas the second mentions 'discarded' as the action that happened along the beach.

CJ

discarded plastic/plastic discarded

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