Question 17·Medium·Inferences
To reduce litter, the city of Brookdale enacted an ordinance in 2022 prohibiting retail stores from giving out single-use plastic checkout bags. One year later, researchers compared data from before and after the ordinance: counts of plastic bag litter along the city's riverbanks fell by 72 percent; sales records from 20 supermarkets showed a 43 percent rise in purchases of 4-gallon trash bags and a 32 percent rise in 8-gallon trash bags; and exit surveys indicated that most shoppers brought reusable totes. The report did not attempt to calculate total plastic consumption.
Based on these findings, which inference is most strongly supported?
For Reading & Writing inference questions based on data, first restate in your own words what the table, numbers, or findings show, then look for the answer that is directly suggested by those details. Eliminate any choice that adds new information (like causes, totals, or specific materials) that the passage never mentions, even if it sounds reasonable, and prefer the option that best explains how the given changes fit together without going beyond the evidence.
Hints
Focus on the numerical data
Look closely at the percentage changes: what changed about litter, and what changed about purchases of certain products? How might those be related?
Think about everyday uses
Consider what 4-gallon and 8-gallon trash bags are typically used for in a home. How could losing access to free plastic checkout bags affect the need to buy such products?
Beware of extra claims not in the passage
Check each answer for ideas that go beyond what the passage says, such as overall totals, specific materials (like paper), or city programs that aren’t mentioned. Eliminate choices that introduce new, unsupported information.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the question is asking
The question asks for an inference that is "most strongly supported" by the findings in the report. That means you must choose the option that is clearly suggested by the given data, not something that sounds reasonable but isn’t backed up by the passage.
Summarize the key pieces of evidence
From the text, note these points:
- The city banned single-use plastic checkout bags in 2022.
- One year later, plastic bag litter along riverbanks fell by 72%.
- Sales of 4-gallon trash bags rose by 43% and 8-gallon trash bags by 32%.
- Most shoppers brought reusable totes.
- The report did not attempt to calculate total plastic consumption. These facts are all you can rely on when choosing an answer.
Connect the data about bag use to possible behavior changes
Think about what 4-gallon and 8-gallon trash bags are typically used for: they are common sizes for small household trash bins (like bathroom or bedroom wastebaskets). If free plastic checkout bags disappear and sales of these small trash bags go up, that suggests a change in how people line those bins.
Test each answer choice against the passage
Now check each option:
- Choice B claims the ordinance reduced overall plastic consumption, but the passage explicitly says the report did not attempt to calculate total plastic consumption, so that is not supported.
- Choice C says most residents switched from plastic to paper bags for household garbage, but the data reference purchases of 4-gallon and 8-gallon trash bags, which are normally plastic; paper is never mentioned.
- Choice D attributes the litter decrease to expanded municipal street-cleaning efforts, but the passage never mentions any change in street cleaning.
- Choice A, that many residents had previously reused free checkout bags to line small household trash bins, fits the observed pattern: once free checkout bags were banned and shoppers brought reusable totes, sales of small trash bags rose significantly, strongly supporting that people were now buying what they used to get for free. Therefore, the best-supported inference is Choice A: Many residents had previously reused free checkout bags to line small household trash bins.