Task 1 The graph below shows the proportion of four different materials that were recycled from 1982 to 2010 in a particular country. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

The line graph represents the trend in the recycling of four categories of materials between 1982 to 2010. The substances depicted include

paper

and

cardboard

,

glass

containers,

aluminium

cans, and

plastics

.

Overall

, it is evident that recycling was in fashion for

paper

and

cardboard

and

glass

containers much before

aluminium

and

plastics

, as the former has been reused in large numbers since 1982

while

the trend was applied to the latter groups only about four to eight years later respectively. Notably,

paper

and carboards have

also

been the dominant division of commodities being reprocessed, followed by

glass

materials,

whereas

plastics

have been the least reclaimed. Zooming into the figures, between 1982 and 1990, about 65 to 70% of

paper

and

cardboard

were recycled which

then

surged to an all-time high of 80% by the year 1994.

Following

this

, the proportion of

paper

and

cardboard

being reused has steadily fallen. As for the

glass

containers, the numbers being recycled experienced an

overall

decline of 10% over eight years post-1982, subsequent to which the proportion of reprocessed goods rose to 60% by 2010.

On the other hand

,

Aluminium

cans and

plastics

, albeit entering the recycling trend much later, have solely faced increments in the proportions being reclaimed.

While

the portion of

aluminium

commodities being reused has increased sharply from 5% in 1986 to 45% in 2010, plastic is subject to a rather gradual increase in its recycled percentage, which is recorded to be about 1% in 1990 and stands only at 9% by 2010.