thanhmaitran wrote:
To reduce waste of raw materials, the government of Sperland is considering requiring household appliances to be broken down for salvage when discarded. To cover the cost of salvage, the government is planning to charge a fee, which would be imposed when the appliance is first sold. Imposing the fee at the time of salvage would reduce waste more effectively, however, because consumers tend to keep old appliances longer if they are faced with a fee for discarding them.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) Increasing the cost of disposing of an appliance properly increases the incentive to dispose of it improperly.
(B) The fee provides manufacturers with no incentive to produce appliances that are more durable.
(C) For people who have bought new appliances recently, the salvage fee would not need to be paid for a number of years.
(D) People who sell their used, working appliances to others would not need to pay the salvage fee.
(E) Many nonfunctioning appliances that are currently discarded could be repaired at relatively little expense.
Plastic Sleds
Step 1: Identify the Question
The word weakens indicates that this is a Weaken the Argument question.
Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument
Plan: req salvage à reduce waste
Govt: Salvage fee at purch
BUT: Dispose fee à keep longer à Ó reduce waste more
Step 3: Pause and State the Goal
On Weaken questions, the correct answer should make the conclusion less likely to be valid. The conclusion in this argument is that a disposal fee would do more to reduce waste than would a purchase fee. What other issues could there be with a disposal fee that might make it less effective?
Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right
(A) CORRECT. The goal of the plan is to reduce waste. If charging a fee at disposal results in illegal disposal, the appliances that are illegally thrown away will not in fact be salvaged, In other words, the program will not achieve its goal to reduce waste; instead, the program itself will encourage the opposite of the desired behavior.
(B) Neither of the plans in the argument (fee at purchase or fee at disposal) would influence manufacturers to produce durable appliances. This information is not important in determining whether a disposal fee will be more effective than a purchase fee.
(C) This fact would influence the timing of payments and provides a reason some people might prefer a disposal fee. It does not affect the extent to which a disposal fee might better reduce waste.
(D) This information strengthens the argument. People would have an incentive (avoiding the fee) to sell used appliances rather than dispose of them, providing another reason a disposal fee would be better.
(E) This answer provides an alternative plan to reduce waste: repair old appliances. The argument, however, is that a fee at disposal would be more effective than a fee at purchase. This answer does not impact that argument.
- Govt is considering salvaging discarded appliances.
- To recover cost of salvage, impose fee when the appliance is first sold.
- Consumers tend to keep old appliances longer if they are faced with a fee for discarding them.
Conclusion: Imposing the fee at the time of salvage would reduce waste more effectively
We need to weaken that imposing fee at the time of salvage will reduce waste more effectively. We need to provide a reason why imposing fee later may not help reduce waste effectively - why salvaging may not be successful in this case.
(A) Increasing the cost of disposing of an appliance properly increases the incentive to dispose of it improperly.
If there is a cost associated with disposing off appliances properly (say handing them over to salvagers), then people tend to dispose them off improperly (say throw them in the trash). So charging a fees later may work against successful salvaging. Correct.
(B) The fee provides manufacturers with no incentive to produce appliances that are more durable.
Irrelevant. We are talking about reducing waste by salvaging. Manufacturing more durable appliances is out of scope.
(C) For people who have bought new appliances recently, the salvage fee would not need to be paid for a number of years.
Doesn't matter. There will be people with appliances of various ages.
(D) People who sell their used, working appliances to others would not need to pay the salvage fee.
Person who is disposing off the appliances (and not selling) will pay the fees.
(E) Many nonfunctioning appliances that are currently discarded could be repaired at relatively little expense.
The point is what happens at the point of throwing off. If the fee is applicable then, will it lead to less wastage.
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