Focus 2, Test Review 7, Consumer Society

Listen to five people talking about why they are at a shopping centre. Match speakers 1–5 with statements A–F. There is one extra statement.

Read the text. For questions 1-4, choose the correct answer, A, B, C or D.

No more plastic bags

In 2011 a new law, the first of its kind in the UK, was passed in Wales. Shops were no longer allowed to give away free plastic bags to their customers. Instead, they had to charge a tax of 5p per bag, which was collected and given to charity. The results were amazing – within a year, the demand for supermarket bags fell by about ninety-six percent. The extra charge was enough to make Welsh shoppers change their habits and remember to take their own bags whenever they went shopping.

The tax was the result of a huge campaign, which was supported by a national newspaper, the Daily Mail, as well as various politicians and green campaigners. It is increasingly popular too. When it was introduced, it was supported by about fifty-nine percent of the Welsh population, but after only six months the figure was seventy percent.

There is no doubt that plastic bags are bad news for the environment. Every year in the UK about eighteen billion (18,000,000,000) plastic bags are given away by supermarkets – that’s about 290 bags per person. Most of them end up in landfill sites, where they remain for hundreds of years, and polluting the environment. Wildlife is affected too. For example, every year a million seabirds die when they mistake bags floating on the sea for food.

All this is bad enough, but plastic bags damage the environment in other ways too. Before they reach the shops, they have already travelled thousands of miles – most of them are made in China or India and then shipped to countries in Europe, including the UK. Then, when they have been used (for an average of twenty minutes each) and thrown away, they are often shipped back again, because we are running out of space here.

The solution to this problem is obvious – stop producing so many plastic bags, and stop giving them away – but shoppers in the UK have been very slow to change their ways. However, the success of the Welsh tax shows that it is possible to change people’s shopping habits. According to researchers from Cardiff University, part of the reason for the popularity of the tax is that the money goes to charity, not the government. Certainly, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been raised since the tax was introduced. The money has gone to a variety of good causes, including local children’s charities and the RSPB (the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). It is safe to conclude that the plastic bag tax has brought positive change to Wales.

Question 1

In 2011,

Read the text. For questions 1-4, choose the correct answer, A, B, C or D.

No more plastic bags

In 2011 a new law, the first of its kind in the UK, was passed in Wales. Shops were no longer allowed to give away free plastic bags to their customers. Instead, they had to charge a tax of 5p per bag, which was collected and given to charity. The results were amazing – within a year, the demand for supermarket bags fell by about ninety-six percent. The extra charge was enough to make Welsh shoppers change their habits and remember to take their own bags whenever they went shopping.

The tax was the result of a huge campaign, which was supported by a national newspaper, the Daily Mail, as well as various politicians and green campaigners. It is increasingly popular too. When it was introduced, it was supported by about fifty-nine percent of the Welsh population, but after only six months the figure was seventy percent.

There is no doubt that plastic bags are bad news for the environment. Every year in the UK about eighteen billion (18,000,000,000) plastic bags are given away by supermarkets – that’s about 290 bags per person. Most of them end up in landfill sites, where they remain for hundreds of years, and polluting the environment. Wildlife is affected too. For example, every year a million seabirds die when they mistake bags floating on the sea for food.

All this is bad enough, but plastic bags damage the environment in other ways too. Before they reach the shops, they have already travelled thousands of miles – most of them are made in China or India and then shipped to countries in Europe, including the UK. Then, when they have been used (for an average of twenty minutes each) and thrown away, they are often shipped back again, because we are running out of space here.

The solution to this problem is obvious – stop producing so many plastic bags, and stop giving them away – but shoppers in the UK have been very slow to change their ways. However, the success of the Welsh tax shows that it is possible to change people’s shopping habits. According to researchers from Cardiff University, part of the reason for the popularity of the tax is that the money goes to charity, not the government. Certainly, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been raised since the tax was introduced. The money has gone to a variety of good causes, including local children’s charities and the RSPB (the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). It is safe to conclude that the plastic bag tax has brought positive change to Wales.

Question 2

Every year in the UK eighteen billion plastic supermarket bags