Biodegradable Plastic Bags, Not So Biodegradable"by Vicky SteinThe average person uses a typical plastic bag for as short a time as 12 minutes before throwing it away, never thinking of where it may end up.Yet once consigned to a landfill, that standard grocery store tote takes hundreds or thousands of years to break down — much more than a human lifetime. Bags make up an alarming amount of the plastic found in whale stomachs or bird nests, and it’s no wonder — globally, we use between 1 and 5 trillion plastic bags each year.Biodegradable plastic bags are marketed as more eco-friendly solutions, able to break down into harmless material more quickly than traditional plastics. One company claims their shopping bag “will degrade and biodegrade in a continuous, irreversible and unstoppable process” if it ends up as litter in the environment.In a study published this week in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers put supposedly eco-friendly bags made from various organic and plastic materials and sourced from U.K. stores to the test. After three years buried in garden soil, submerged in ocean water, exposed to open light and air or stashed in a laboratory, none of the bags broke down completely in all the environments.1 of 7QuestionUse the article to answer the question.In 3–5 sentences, explain one example of valid reasoning and explain how that example strengthens the overall argument.

Question

Biodegradable Plastic Bags, Not So Biodegradable"by Vicky SteinThe average person uses a typical plastic bag for as short a time as 12 minutes before throwing it away, never thinking of where it may end up.Yet once consigned to a landfill, that standard grocery store tote takes hundreds or thousands of years to break down — much more than a human lifetime. Bags make up an alarming amount of the plastic found in whale stomachs or bird nests, and it’s no wonder — globally, we use between 1 and 5 trillion plastic bags each year.Biodegradable plastic bags are marketed as more eco-friendly solutions, able to break down into harmless material more quickly than traditional plastics. One company claims their shopping bag “will degrade and biodegrade in a continuous, irreversible and unstoppable process” if it ends up as litter in the environment.In a study published this week in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers put supposedly eco-friendly bags made from various organic and plastic materials and sourced from U.K. stores to the test. After three years buried in garden soil, submerged in ocean water, exposed to open light and air or stashed in a laboratory, none of the bags broke down completely in all the environments.1 of 7QuestionUse the article to answer the question.In 3–5 sentences, explain one example of valid reasoning and explain how that example strengthens the overall argument.

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One example of valid reasoning in the article is the study conducted by researchers to test the biodegradability of supposedly eco-friendly bags. The researchers subjected the bags to various environments such as garden soil, ocean water, open light and air, and laboratory conditions for three years. The fact that none of the bags completely broke down in any of the environments strengthens the overall argument that biodegradable plastic bags are not as biodegradable as they claim to be. This evidence shows that these bags are not a truly sustainable solution and can still contribute to the plastic pollution problem.