The answer depends on which part of the English speaking world you come from. "Garbage" - generally anything you discard from the house and leave for collection by the municipal authority including uneaten food, bottles, cans etc "trash" - this has a similar meaning but is used more by North Americans than other English speakers You will also find some English speakers use the word "rubbish" - this has the same meaning as the other terms.

'Garbage' and 'trash' are both used to describe 'refuse': in other words, stuff that you throw away because it is of no use to you. 'Garbage' is NOT just for food : like trash, garbage can be any type of waste material. Both these words are mainly used in American English, and both correspond to the British English word 'rubbish'. When used more figuratively, 'garbage' can mean 'totally worthless' or 'nonsense', for example 'You're talking garbage'. 'Trash', however, simply means 'poor quality' : you could describe a badly-written romantic novel or a stupid TV game show as 'trash'. You may even come across the word used to describe certain uneducated, lower class people as 'trash'.