GRE Argument Essay Samples

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Argument:
The following appeared in a memo from the mayor of the town of West Egg.

“Two years ago, our consultants predicted that West Egg’s landfill, which is used for garbage disposal, would be completely filled within five years. During the past two years, however, town residents have been recycling twice as much aluminum and paper as they did in previous years. Next month the amount of material recycled should further increase, since charges for garbage pickup will double. Furthermore, over ninety percent of the respondents to a recent survey said that they would do more recycling in the future. Because of our residents’ strong commitment to recycling, the available space in our landfill should last for considerably longer than predicted.”

Essay
The memo from the mayor of West Egg shows that the landfill of the town is about to get exhausted soon. However, it also says that garbage is being recycled by more and more people and thus the amount of garbage thrown in the landfill is reducing. In that case, the landfills would last longer than expected.

The mayor however ignores certain possibilities that could probably have a completely different outcome than the one mentioned in the memo. Firstly, the consultants who had predicted that the West Egg’s landfill would be completely filled within five years had done the research about two years ago. There is no fresh research that confirms that the past two years have seen a lesser amount of garbage dumping. It has been observed that aluminum and paper is being recycled twice as mush as before. However, the fact that it has resulted in lesser garbage being dumped in the landfill is not confirmed. It is likely that the recycling has not made any difference to the amount of garbage being dumped because there is possibility of increase in the production of aluminum and paper in the past two years. With the increase in production of these products, it is obvious that the amount of aluminum and paper being recycled is also increased. Thus, it hardly makes any difference in reducing the amount of garbage in the landfill.

Two years have also seen an increase in the population. With the increase in the population, the garbage would also increase. However, the study does not take into account the rise in population. Moreover, the population is likely to increase in future as well. There is no guarantee as to by what rate the population would rise. If the rise in population were more than ever before, the amount of garbage would also increase. In that case, the landfill would not last as long as the memo mentions.

The memo also ignores the amount of non-recyclable garbage. It mentions the recycling of aluminum and paper, but a large chunk of the garbage consists of non-recyclable material. This material could have more volume and thus would consume large part of the landfill and it cannot be ignored. However, there is no mention of the amount of non-recyclable material in the memo of the mayor.

The argument presented by the mayor further says that the amount of material recycled is expected to increase in the next month due to increase in the charges of garbage pickup. Nevertheless, it cannot be said for sure that the rise in the charges of garbage pick up would be met with such consequences. Whether the charges would double or not, or the amount of material to be recycled increase is only an imaginary concept since the future is susceptible to change and cannot be predicted with cent percent surety.

The survey mentioned in the argument mentions that ninety percent of residents would do more recycling in future. However, a survey could be misleading since it does not take into account the views of all people. It is only conducted on a part of the population and the results are taken as generally applicable to the whole. Thus, it is likely that a major part of population that has different views about recycling has not been included in the survey.

The recycling of garbage takes an extra effort on the part of the residents. Whether the residents would get the time to put in this extra effort or not cannot be determined. With the introduction of technology, people are becoming busier by the day. They do not get enough time for leisure. Thus, to take out time for such a thing is also out of question. Thus, the memo presented by the mayor is not completely true and valid in all cases. Keeping in view the above points, it is very much likely that the landfill gets filled up in the expected time or even sooner. 

GRE Argument Essay Samples

GRE Argument Essay 1 | GRE Argument Essay 2 | GRE Argument Essay 3 |GRE Argument Essay 4 | GRE Argument Essay 5|GRE Argument Essay 6 | GRE Argument Essay 7 | GRE Argument Essay 8 |GRE Argument Essay 9 | GRE Argument Essay 10