IELTS Recent Actual Test 6 - Part 3 (Listen and Read)

Hi, Nicole.

As you know, we've got to decide on the best ways this university can reduce its waste.

You inspected the eastern campus, and I did the western buildings.

Did you do all the interviews as well?

Yes, I interviewed all the staff, who made some good observations,

and I interviewed some of the students.

The students said little that was interesting.

They don't seem to care that much.

It was the cleaners, surprisingly, who revealed the most relevant facts.

That's not surprising to me.

They empty all the bins, so they see the waste first-hand,

whereas the staff just throw things away without thinking.

What item was most commonly disposed of?

Well, it really depended on where I interviewed.

In the cafeteria precinct,

obviously paper plates and cups were thrown away all over the place.

There was almost no attempt at recycling.

However, across the university in general,

it was paper copying that filled up most bins,

far more than plastic, or other forms of waste.

Do people care about this, then?

Well, some do, if you can believe them.

I must have interviewed about 30% of customers in the cafeteria,

and the results were mixed.

Out of all the people I interviewed, well over half,

maybe about 55% of them, were quite honest about it,

telling me that they had little concern.

The other fraction, 45%, were more troubled.

Yes, but do they do anything about it?

Surprisingly, quite a significant percentage do do something,

even if they aren't particularly concerned.

I mean, small things.

About 10% bring their own cups to the cafeteria, for example,

and at least 1/3 said they use recycling bins,

so, in total, it's an equal split between those who do something, or those who don't.

So why do so many people remain inactive,

particularly over an issue they should care about more?

I think they do care, and many of them are prepared to do something.

Obviously, there's an element of laziness,

but I'd say that it's relatively small.

If they knew what to do, and if stringent systems existed,

or if the importance of this was made clearer to them,

I'm sure you'd see a much larger percentage of people actively working towards helping our environment.

Well, there's cause for optimism, at least.

Clearly then, there's a significant waste of paper here at this university,

so I've worked out one practical suggestion which could help reduce it -

specifically, the waste from the excess photocopying.

Let me hear it, then.

Ah obviously, for a start,

we've got to ensure that people, including the staff,

without exception, copy both sides of a page.

We can't tolerate single-sided copying. It's just far too wasteful.

Absolutely. Just more trees being chopped down.

But as people are doing copying,

there may be adjustments, and practice copying,

producing single-sided copies or blank pages not wanted and not intended for use.

These need to be deposited into a tray for intended recycling -

you know, for recopying onto the blank side of the page.

But people don't usually do that.

I'm afraid it's just human nature.

No matter how unimportant the copying is, they prefer to use fresh paper.

Yeah, I agree with you,

which is why you need to display these papers right in front of everyone,

with a clear sign, 'Please Reuse', to make it easy for them to do so.

They still won't do it.

I know. That's why you take some of these papers, and regularly stack them inside the copier,

in a special tray, once a day, say, in the morning.

Well, that's getting better, making it easier for them to use the paper,

but still, I'm afraid many won't.

That's why you allow everyone to select this tray when copying.

You distribute numbers or codes to every person,

giving them special access to this recycling tray.

Every time they use papers from this, it's tallied up to their account.

I know I'm sounding a bit negative, or even cynical here...

but why should they bother using that tray?

Because the person who does the most copying from this recycling tray gets, say, a cinema pass,

or lottery ticket, or some other sort of reward.

Ah, right! Now that's a system which might just work.

Let's trial it in the office and see what happens.