Self-study
Consumers are deeply concerned about the quantity of plastic packaging on the market and have spurred manufacturers to find ways to recycle plastic materials. ███████ █████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ██████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why is a lower percentage of plastic recycled than glass?
Objective
There are many possible explanations as to why plastic is recycled at a lower rate than glass (there could be more of an incentive to recycle glass, it may be much easier to recycle glass, etc.), but the correct answer will not be helpful in explaining why a lower percentage of plastic is recycled. It will either be irrelevant or make the discrepancy even harder to explain.
9.
Each of the following, if █████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███████
a
Many factories are ███ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ ███████ █████ ███ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████████
This tells us that recycled glass is more useful than recycled plastic, which could explain why plastic is recycled at a lower rate.
b
Many plastic products ███ ████████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ███████████
This describes a way in which recycling plastic is more difficult than glass, which could explain why plastic is recycled at a lower rate.
c
The manufacture of ███ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ██████████
This makes the discrepancy even harder to explain because, if new plastic is created from a nonrenewable resource, then there would be a greater incentive to recycle it. This does not help explain why plastic is recycled at a lower rate.
d
Unlike glass, which ███ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ █████████████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███
This describes an obstacle to recycling plastic, namely that anything contaminating the plastic can’t be removed by the recycling process. This could explain why it gets recycled at a lower rate.
e
Plastic polymers tend ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ █████ █████
This describes a way in which items made from recycled plastic are inferior to those made from recycled glass, so it could explain why plastic is recycled at a lower rate.