In many countries, plastic containers have become more common than ever and are used by many food and drink companies. Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
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Sample Response
Using plastic containers for various food products has become ubiquitous in recent decades. Though this has potential drawbacks for the environment, I believe it does not outweigh the benefits to businesses and individuals.
The environmental cost of disposable plastic containers is massive. Before plastics, foods and drinks were typically packaged in biodegradable, eco-friendly paper or cardboardput into biodegradable, eco-friendly paper or cardboard. The widespread use of plasticsarrival of plastics has impacted the environment on two major fronts. Firstly, plastic itself is a fossil fuel byproduct that requires crude oil for its production and later transportation. The emissions from fossil fuels are often cited as the chief contributor to the accelerationhastening of climate change. Moreover, the containers themselves either find their wayways to landfills, polluting previously pristine land, or end up in the ocean, forming large accumulations‘land masses’ that are injurious to marine life.
Nonetheless, the concomitant problems of plastic containers listed above do not override their usefulness. For companies, using plastic containers is cheap and allows for consistent packaginguniform consistency. This is the reason why they have been adopted by companies ranging from fast food giants like McDonald’s to local grocery chains. TheseThis savings is then passed on to the consumer who enjoys cheaper prices and the convenience of plastic containersthe many conveniences of plastic containers. They are less likely to rip or spill than paper containersrip open and spill compared with paper and most families reuse them to store leftoversmake use of them afterwards for leftover food. If plastic containers for food items were banned, not onlywere banned not only would people lose these conveniences but many companies would have to radically alter their packaging, and potentially, products themselves.
In conclusion, the environmental impact of plastic containers does little to undermine their value for both corporations and the average customer. It is instead important to explore innovations to make plastics more environmentally friendly.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response gives a direct comparative judgement and develops both environmental costs and practical benefits with specific, logically sequenced support. Its principal weakness is occasional imprecision in reference and wording, including the ambiguous singular pronoun in the thesis and a few awkward collocations; tightening these expressions and making the weighing of the two sides even more explicit would improve an already persuasive argument.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The question is fully addressed through a clear position and well-developed consideration of both disadvantages and advantages.
Make the final comparison more explicit by directly explaining why the practical benefits carry greater weight than the environmental costs.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay is well organised, and ideas develop smoothly within a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and conclusion.
Tighten a few long sentences so that each causal step and comparison is immediately clear.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and precise, with effective topic-specific choices such as biodegradable, byproduct, emissions, and marine life.
Replace occasional awkward or redundant combinations, such as uniform consistency and find their ways, with more natural phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentence forms are handled with strong control, and only occasional minor agreement or reference errors appear.
Check pronoun reference and agreement carefully, particularly when referring back to plural drawbacks or savings.