What are waste products?

Waste products are things your body makes when it’s working hard to keep you healthy.

Imagine you're eating a big sandwich and drinking juice, that gives you energy, but after a while, your body has leftovers from breaking down the food. Those leftovers are like waste products. Just like when you finish playing with your toys and have crumbs on the floor or a mess in your room.

Your body is like a kitchen, it cooks up things to help you grow, think, and move. But sometimes, after cooking, there are extra bits that aren’t needed anymore. These extra bits are waste products. For example, when you breathe out, you're letting go of carbon dioxide, which is a type of waste product from your body’s cooking process.

Your body has special ways to get rid of these extra bits, like going to the bathroom or breathing out. It's just like cleaning up after yourself: sometimes you throw things away, and sometimes you reuse them for something else later.