Plastic Garbage - IELTS Reading Answers

By using simple passages for practice like "Plastic Garbage IELTS Reading Answers," you can practice identifying signpost words, topic shifts, and main ideas more effectively. Over time, this skill enhances your ability to navigate texts quickly, which is essential when you have to manage three passages from the best IELTS Reading books under time constraints.

Passage for Plastic Garbage IELTS Reading Answers

Solving this passage will enhance your focus, accuracy, and comprehension skills, all of which are vital for achieving a high IELTS band score in the reading module. So, to answer the questions based on it, read the Plastic Garbage passage that is provided below. 

Plastic Garbage

A Every year over 6.4 million tons of plastic debris end up in the sea. As the standard kinds of plastic are not degradable, they drift around the oceans for decades or indeed centuries and collect in enormous gyres of plastic debris. Today plastic is everywhere on the open sea, on the seafloor and on beaches. There is not only disfigures the beauty of nature and leads to economic losses but also has alarming effects on nature, animals, and ultimately also on. The real cause of the plastic pollution of the seas is our thoughtless way of using plastics. Making use of plastic where it may not be necessary, littering, and the lack of waste management all lead to increasing amounts entering our waters. And, even where one would hardly suspect it, we contribute daily to marine pollution: by washing clothes made of synthetic fibres.

B Estimates suggest that 80% of the waste from land reaches the sea through rivers. Therefore the problem of plastic waste in the sea does not affect only countries with a marine coastline but essentially all regions where plastic is used. Plastic also becomes a problem in lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands.

C Europe’s main water divides run right across the continent. This means that waste from regions in the interior of the continent can reach the sea along the big European rivers: for instance along the Po into the Adriatic, via the Rhine into the North Sea, down the Rhone into the Mediterranean and along the Danube into the Black Sea.

D Light pieces of plastic float around on the surface and are carried by the currents for long periods across great distances. Numbers of them are washed onto the coasts. Plastics with a density greater than that of water sink to the seafloor. So far little research has been conducted into the situation on the sea or ocean floor. It seems likely that especially large collections of heavy sorts of plastic, such as PET and HDPE, have formed there, mostly off densely populated areas of coastline and near river deltas. It is feared that the concentration of plastic restricts the exchange of gas between the seafloor and the water.

E Research work carried out by Kara Lavender Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association(SEA), has shown that over the last 20 years the amount of plastic measured on the surface of the Atlantic has stagnated, even though the amount entering the sea is growing continuously. She evaluated more than 7500 samples collected on research expeditions made by SEA over a period of 25 years. What happens to the surplus?

F One of Law’s theories suggests that a considerable amount of the debris is consumed by plankton-eating animals. Another theory says that sea organisms colonize the pieces of plastic which thus become heavier and sink to the bottom. Plastic is consumed on the seafloor, too: Erin Graham and Joseph Thompson proved in 2009 that sea cucumbers ingest large amounts of plastic with their food.

G The problem of marine pollution became widely known as early as the 1970s. The first legislation and initiatives for the protection of the seas date from this time. Today there are many protagonists, initiatives and legal guidelines aimed at cleaning up and protecting the seas.

H The enormous amount of material used by our society is becoming a growing dilemma for the environment. Politicians, producers and consumers are all called upon to equal extents to take the necessary measures. While politicians and producers have their guidelines and agendas, consumers are left to find their own strategies. A well-known and meaningful approach is that known as the three Rs: «Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. These strategies are especially applicable to the way we make use of plastic.

I The order in which the terms reduce, reuse and recycle are placed reflects their importance. First of all, we must reduce our use of plastic wherever this is possible. What must be bought should be used for as long as possible, and when this is no longer possible it should be sent off to be recycled. According to regional habits and the persons whom it is wished to address these three terms are augmented by a number of further suggestions. Producers and designers are urged to «rethink> and <redesign»>- this means that the products manufactured should result in less waste. At the end of the life cycle the options for those products that cannot be recycled are to: «recover) (use to provide energy) or<<dispose of» (properly).

Questions for Plastic Garbage Reading Answers

The ‘Plastic Garbage’ is an IELTS Academic Reading passage with 14 questions. It will help you understand what kind of reading passages you will encounter and the questions that you will be asked to solve.

The question types in this reading passage include:

• IELTS Reading True False Not Given (Q. 1-7)
• IELTS Reading Summary Completion (Q. 8-13)
• IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Question (Q. 14)

Questions 1-7

1 Mammoth gyres of plastic debris are collected as the standard category of plastic is non-degradable, they hover around the oceans for decades and centuries.

2 Nowadays a large amount of land on earth is sheltered with plastic.

3 Plastic wreckage barely affects nature, creatures and even health.

4 Source of Marine pollution is synthetic fibres.

5 Hardly 20% squander creates trouble for countries with a coastline as the throwaway gets to the sea through rivers.

6 European rivers are to be blamed to take the waste from regions in the core of the continent to the sea.

7 It’s due to the weight of the plastic whether it drifts or is submerged.

Questions 8-13

It is terror; the 8…………………….of the plastic confines the exchange of gas between the sea floor and the water. Investigations have revealed the quantity of plastic on the surface of the Atlantic has 9…………….while the amount going into the sea is 10………………incessantly. The rising trouble for the environment is the 11……………amount of stuff used by the public. Three R’S: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle are the 12………to make use of plastic. To turn waste out of manufactured goods, producers and designers are 13……………..to juggle around with and redesign.

Questions 14

14 According to the article, which is the most excellent way to shrink plastic garbage?

A Rethink, Redesign

B Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

C Recover, Dispose

D Restrict, Limit, Manage

Answers and Explanations of Plastic Garbage IELTS Reading Passage

Now it is time to cross-check your answers using the answer key below for the Plastic Garbage IELTS Reading Answers. Don’t forget to create strategies based on the feedback from this practice and master IELTS Reading question types with examples.

1 Answer: TRUE

Question type: True/false/not given

Answer Location: Paragraph A, lines 1-3

Answer Explanation: The line states that “As the standard kinds of plastic are not degradable, they drift around the oceans for decades or indeed centuries and collect in enormous gyres of plastic debris.”. Thus we can conclude that the question statement is true because it agrees with the given information.

2 Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question type: True/false/not given

Answer Location: N/A

Answer Explanation: The article is focused on plastic garbage which mostly affects the sea, sea floor and the beach. Thus we cannot conclude if the question statement is true or false because the information is not given.

3 Answer: FALSE

Question type: True/false/not given

Answer Location: Paragraph A, lines 4-6

Answer Explanation: The line states that plastic waste “disfigures the beauty of nature and leads to economic losses but also has alarming effects on nature, animals, and ultimately also on.” As it is clear from the given statement that the plastic waste disfigures or negatively affects the environment, we can conclude that the question statement is false.

Tips for Answering the Question Types in the Plastic Garbage Reading Passage

Now, let us check out some quick IELTS exam preparation tips for band score of 8+ to answer the passage question types in the Plastic Garbage IELTS Reading Answer to help you create your own strategy.

True, False, Not Given

• Read the statement first and underline key ideas: Identify the main claim (cause, effect, quantity, or source) before scanning so you know exactly what to look for in the passage.
• Locate the matching paragraph before deciding the answer: Always find where the topic is discussed; answers must be based on specific lines, not general understanding.
• TRUE means exact agreement, not partial similarity: Choose TRUE only when the statement fully matches the writer’s idea, including numbers, causes, and scope.
• FALSE requires clear contradiction: Select FALSE only if the passage clearly states the opposite of the statement, such as different figures, causes, or effects.
• NOT GIVEN means zero information—not unclear language: If the passage does not mention the idea at all or gives no opinion, comparison, or data, the answer is NOT GIVEN.
• Be careful with percentages and quantities: Statements with numbers (e.g. 20%, most, large amount) are common traps. So, check whether the passage confirms or contradicts them.
• Watch for extreme words: Words like ‘barely’, ‘always’, ‘hardly’, ‘only’ often make statements false because passages usually use more cautious language.

Summary Completion

• Read the summary as a whole before filling gaps: Understanding the overall meaning helps predict the type of word needed (noun, verb, adjective).
• Use the grammar of the sentence as a guide: Check what fits grammatically in the gap—this often narrows the answer to one exact word.
• Scan for paraphrased ideas, not identical sentences: The summary restates ideas using different wording, so focus on meaning rather than matching phrases.
• Take the word exactly from the passage: Do not change the form, spelling, or tense; copying the word incorrectly leads to a wrong answer.
• Respect the word limit strictly: Even if two words appear logical, writing more than ONE WORD makes the answer incorrect.
• Check nearby sentences in the paragraph: Sometimes the correct word appears just before or after the obvious sentence, so read carefully around it.

Multiple-Choice Questions 

• Read the question before the options: Understand what is being asked first so you are not influenced by attractive but incorrect options.
• Find the paragraph that answers the question: MCQ answers always come from a specific part of the passage, usually where opinions or conclusions are stated.
• Match meaning, not keywords: Correct options often paraphrase the passage, while wrong options repeat exact words but change the meaning.
• Eliminate clearly incorrect options first: Remove choices that are not mentioned or contradict the passage to make the final decision easier.
• Beware of extreme or invented options: Options that sound logical but are not supported by the passage should be rejected immediately.

In short, the best performance on the IELTS Reading test necessitates a concentrated effort on improving reading speed, developing familiarity with question types, and refining skills related to locating information. So, to crack the exam on the first go, try solving more of the IELTS reading recent actual tests, work on your comprehension skills, and create your own reading success strategy.

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