The following appeared in a memorandum written by the chairperson of the West Egg Town Council.
Two years ago, consultants predicted that West Egg's landfill, which is used for garbage disposal, would be completely filled within five years.During the past two years, however, the town's residents have been recycling twice as much material as they did in previous years.Next month the amount of recycled material - which includes paper, plastic, and metal - should further increase, since charges for pickup of other household garbage will double.Furthermore, over 90 percent of the respondents to a recent survey said that they would do more recycling in the future.Because of our town's strong commitment to recycling, the available space in our landfill should last for considerably longer than predicted.
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
C1: Two years ago, consultants predicted that West Egg's landfill, which is used for garbage disposal, would be completely filled within five years.
G1: During the past two years, however, the town's residents have been recycling twice as much material as they did in previous years.
G2: Next month the amount of recycled material - which includes paper, plastic, and metal - should further increase, since charges for pickup of other household garbage will double.
G3: Furthermore, over 90 percent of the respondents to a recent survey said that they would do more recycling in the future.
C2: Because of our town's strong commitment to recycling, the available space in our landfill should last for considerably longer than predicted.
C1 and C2 contradicts
A1 (G1, C2): The extra amount of material recycled is significant relative to the amount of garbage disposed.
A2 (G2, C2): The increase in pickup charges would significantly reduce the amount of garbage disposed.
A3 (G3, C2): The survey is reliable and the respondents would do as they said.
A4 (C2): The residential waste is the main source of garbage.
the amount of garbage reduced due to the recycling programs
- the amount of materials recycled have doubled but the amount is relatively small compared to the amount of garbage
- the amount of garbage may have increased over the last two years due to the increase of population and economic activities
- need to calculate the percentage of garbage reduced due to recycling
whether the growth in recycling would be sustainable
- maybe the initial amount of recycled materials was small and it is easy to double
- whether the respondents could represent the people who actually handle the waste
- whether the respondents will walk the walk
how sensitive are the residents to the charge increase
- maybe the charge for garbage is really small relative to disposable income
- doubling the charge may create little incentive to further recycle
- the cost or trouble of further recycling may be higher than the money that could be saved
whether the residential waste is the main source of garbage
- maybe the tourists produce a substantial amount of garbage
- the manufacturing and construction industries may generate a lot of waste
- the restaurants