We have developed into a throw-away society

IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

We have developed into a “throw-away” society and are filling the environment with rubbish that we cannot fully dispose of.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

What measures should be taken to combat this problem?

Write at least 250 words.


Sample Answer:

Consumerism has transformed our society into the “throw-away” society. The society evokes the critical notion of excessive consumption and proliferation of disposable or short-lived commodities. However, it goes without saying that our society has transformed into a “throw-away” society with the amount of goods we claim as useless or broken. We have to change our consumerist attitude in order to grapple with this phenomenon.

For a start, capitalism is leading to a “throw-away” society. Capitalists want to gain competitive edge over each other by the inherent process of capitalist accumulation that of maximizing profit and minimizing cost. Multinational corporations are establishing their factories in the countries with cheap labour cost. In turn, broken items are mended in the developing countries where labour cost is relatively high. The consumer replaces a broken product in consequence of extremely high labour cost and discards the useless item. In addition, supercapitalism, coined by Robert Reigh, also contributes to the phenomenon. According to the concept, waste are produced by making products feel outmoded as soon as they are brought. With each sell of a new gadget or even automobile, the product will quickly feel obsolete, driving to the cycle of waste and high renewal needs. The society, thus, is turned into a “throw-away” society.

In order to curb this issue, we have combat against our throw-away mentality. We live under the capitalist economy that always endeavours to produce, promote, and espouse the values of materialistic attitude. We are enticed to strive for more, but this onward attitude contributes to the throw-away mentality that leads to “throw-away” society. That is why, it is important to fight against the onward attitude of wanting more, and appreciate and value what we have.

From what has been discussed above, it could be easily concluded that our society has turned into the “throw-away” society. The root cause of this phenomenon is our unquenchable thrust for new products, whether they are necessary for us or not. So, we have to change our mentality so as to deal with the issue.