LSAT 9 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q7

LR Question 7 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Waste management companies, which collect waste for disposal…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: Attempts to reduce the amount of plastic people throw away are failing.

REASONING: The share of plastics in the waste stream is going up.

ANALYSIS: The argument assumes an increase in the percentage of plastic in waste means people are throwing away more plastic overall, or at least not less.

But that’s a mathematical flaw. An increase in percentage doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in amount. The amount of plastic could be constant (or even decreasing), while other materials are just being thrown away less.

We want an answer that reflects that this percentage increase might be misleading.

___________

1. We care how much plastic is being thrown away, not how the plastic is disposed of.
2. This explains why plastic ends up in the trash, but doesn’t say anything about whether plastic waste has increased or not.
3. This might suggest people reuse plastics more. But it’s too general. It doesn’t address the trend in waste actually handled by waste management companies.
4. CORRECT. This offers an alternative explanation. Other materials are being recycled more, so less of them show up in trash. So the increased share isn’t due to increased plastic, but less of other materials.
5. Not strong enough to weaken. It tells us that more products use plastic, but that overall production is stable. It doesn’t necessarily connect to what people are throwing away.