IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Recycling Plastic Bottles

Writing Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The diagram below shows the process for recycling plastic bottles. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. 

Write at least 150 words.

Version 1: Recycling Plastic Bottles

The diagram shows how plastic bottles are recycled. Overall, there are nine steps, from collecting and sorting recyclable bottles and turning them into raw materials.

First, bottles are disposed to the recycle bin. Once the container is full of plastic bottles, a truck will pick it up and go to the recycling center for sorting. Bottles will be fed by a conveyor belt and will be checked manually by hand. Those sorted bottles will be compressed into blocks and they will be fed into giant rollers to be crushed into small pieces. 

These small pieces will be bath-washed first before it will go to a machine to make them into pellets and then be heated to become raw material. Once it is cooled down the pellets will be a block of raw material ready to be used in products such as plastic containers, clothing, and plastic bag. Once consumed, these plastic materials will be back in the recycle bin ready to be recycled. 

Version 2: Recycling Plastic Bottles

The diagram shows the step-by-step process of how plastic bottles are being recycled. Overall, there are a series of processes from collecting, sorting, and crushing before it will be converted to raw material. 

A truck will pick up the bin containing recycled plastic bottles and this will go directly to the recycling center for sorting. The bottles will be inspected by hand, some bottles will be discarded while the bottles that were checked will be compressed into blocks. A machine will crush the plastic blocks into smaller pieces ready to be bath-washed. Once the bathing process is finished it will go to a machine to make the crushed plastic into plastic pellets ready to be heated to form raw material. 

The raw material will be stacked and ready to be used to produce end products such as bottles, food containers, clothing, bags, and pens. The cycle repeats once the consumers dispose of the plastic products.

Source: IELTS Cambridge 16. Test 4

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Writer – Ian