Waste recycling rates in the U.S. from 1960 to 2011

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 with answer.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graph below shows waste recycling rates in the U.S. from 1960 to 2011.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should write at least 150 words.

National Recycling Rates, 1960 to 2011

National Recycling Rates

Source: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/facts-text.htm#chart3

Sample Answer:
The given line graph presents data on garbage recycling in the United States for 51 years’ time starting from 1960. Overall, the waste recycling amount in the USA gradually increased after 1985.

As is presented in the line graph, initially in 1960 just over 10 million ton garbage was recycled and 5.6 million tons were recovered. Over the time both the waste recovery and percent of waste recycling increased gradually till the year 1985 when the total waste recovery and recycling intersected each other. After that, both of the waste recycling and recovery amount kept on growing and finally in 2011 the recycling percentage reached to 34.7% while the total waste of recovery was just over 86 million tons.

Initially in 1960 more recycling was done than the total waste recovery but after the year 1985, the garbage recovery amount started crossing the recycling with a gap of over 12% in 2011.