IELTS TASK 1 The graph provides information about the recycling percentage of four different materials (paper and cardboard, glass containers, aluminium
cans,and plastics) over the twenty-eight year period from 1982 to 2010. Overall, all the different materials had an upward
trend, with the percentage of recycling at the end of the time period being higher than
that at the beginning. However, while both aluminium and plastics experienced a
steady increase over time, the trend for paper and cardboard fluctuated,
while the recycling of glass containers reached a low and then increased again.
Regarding aluminium, the percentage of recycling was very low at the
beginning (in 1986 it was approximately 2% ) but, among the different materials,
it is the one that grew the fastest over time and by 2010 more than 40% of
total aluminium was recycled. Plastics grew as well, but at a much lower rate,
starting from no recycling at all in 1986 to almost 10% in 2010. Turning to paper and cardboard, this experienced a fluctuating trend, especially before
1994. Indeed, there was an increase in recycling from about 65% in 1982 to 70%
in 1986 followed by a decrease to the original value in 1990 and an increase to a peak of
80% in 1994. Then the recycled amount decreased steadily until 2010 when it
fell back to 70%. The recycling of glass containers showed a downwards trend from 50% in 1982, until it reached a low in 1990 (with only 40% of recycling) and then it steadily increased until 2010 when the amount recycled reached 60%.