Difference between words ゴミ and 廃棄物


Both ゴミ and 廃棄物｛はいきぶつ｝ have the meaning of waste, but how could I distinguish
these two words? For sure they have some different points in meaning.

Originally I thought, that ゴミ is informal word for 廃棄物｛はいきぶつ｝, but now I think
that it is not true...




廃棄物 is made of 廃棄 + 物

apparently 廃棄する means "to abolish, to scrap, to repeal" (both physical things
and stuff like treaties). So I guess we can think of `廃棄物` as _waste_
(something to be disposed of) and `ごみ` as _trash/garbage/dust/dirt_ (something
to be cleaned up and thrown away but not necessarily destroyed).

It also helps to check examples in the dictionaries to get a better feel of
the usage. E.g. for 廃棄物 you find "factory waste", "radioactive waste",
"polluted by waste", "reducing waste", while for ゴミ it's usually something
related to household/street garbage and figurative meaning of "trash".




廃棄物 is made of 廃棄 + 物

apparently 廃棄する means "to abolish, to scrap, to repeal" (both physical things
and stuff like treaties). So I guess we can think of `廃棄物` as _waste_
(something to be disposed of) and `ごみ` as _trash/garbage/dust/dirt_ (something
to be cleaned up and thrown away but not necessarily destroyed).

It also helps to check examples in the dictionaries to get a better feel of
the usage. E.g. for 廃棄物 you find "factory waste", "radioactive waste",
"polluted by waste", "reducing waste", while for ゴミ it's usually something
related to household/street garbage and figurative meaning of "trash".

