Nowadays We Are Producing More And More Rubbish - IELTS Band 9 Essay Samples

Achieve your dream score with our detailed IELTS eBooks - your complete guide!

Sample Essay 1

Modern societies are producing unprecedented volumes of rubbish, largely because consumption is cheap, fast and disposable. I argue that waste is the predictable output of convenience-driven markets and design choices that shorten product lifespans. To curb it, governments must realign incentives—pricing waste properly and mandating durability—through measures such as producer responsibility, deposit-return schemes, right-to-repair rules and targeted taxes that reduce packaging and extend product use.

First, the volume of waste reflects perverse incentives across the “take–make–dispose” economy. Fossil-based plastics and outsourced manufacturing make unit costs vanishingly low, so firms compete on novelty and speed rather than longevity. Planned obsolescence—sealed batteries, proprietary screws, software that outpaces hardware—pushes consumers to replace rather than repair. Fast fashion exemplifies this churn: garments designed to last a season are cheaper to throw away than to mend. Meanwhile, e-commerce multiplies packaging by atomising purchases into many small deliveries; each click produces boxes, fillers and labels. Because disposal costs are socialised through municipal budgets, neither producer nor buyer faces the true end-of-life price. Predictably, households maximise convenience, firms maximise turnover, and society inherits an ever-rising stream of material throughput destined for bins and landfills.

Governments can reverse these incentives by making waste expensive and durability profitable. Extended Producer Responsibility shifts end-of-life costs onto manufacturers, encouraging packaging reduction and take-back systems. Deposit-return schemes for bottles and cans harness small financial rewards to drive near-universal returns. Pay-as-you-throw pricing for households deters over-consumption of disposables without penalising the careful. Regulatory levers matter too: eco-design rules that mandate repairability scores, spare-part availability and software support horizons extend product lifecycles, while taxes on virgin materials and landfill/incineration close the price gap between single-use and circular options. Public procurement can anchor markets for reusables and remanufactured goods, and standardised recycling labels reduce contamination. Crucially, governments should fund repair vouchers and reuse infrastructure so that the cheapest option is also the least wasteful.

Rising rubbish is not an accident; it is the logical by-product of cheap materials, convenience retail, and designs that favour replacement over repair. By pricing externalities and mandating durability—through EPR, deposits, PAYT, eco-design and procurement—governments can bend the curve from linear to circular. The path is clear: change the incentives, and the bins will begin to empty.

Achieve your dream score with our detailed IELTS eBooks - your complete guide!

Sample Essay 2

Modern lifestyles have led to an explosion in the volume of waste, and this is not merely a by-product of convenience but also a reflection of cultural attitudes and systemic inefficiencies. I believe that rubbish production stems primarily from consumerism-driven mindsets and inadequate recycling infrastructures. To tackle this, governments must reshape public behaviour through education while simultaneously investing in large-scale systems that make sustainable disposal not just possible, but unavoidable.

One key reason for the excessive production of rubbish is the culture of overconsumption and status-driven consumerism. In many societies, people equate newness with success and discard usable items simply to keep up with trends. Smartphones, for example, are replaced every two years on average, not because they fail but because marketing convinces buyers they are outdated. Similarly, the phenomenon of “single-serve culture” in urban centres—where takeaway coffee cups, plastic cutlery, and snack-sized packaging dominate—illustrates how convenience trumps responsibility. This mindset has been reinforced by advertising industries and globalised retail chains that glorify instant gratification. Critically, waste here is not only physical but psychological: products are designed to appeal for a fleeting moment, after which they are discarded. Unless governments intervene to reshape values and instil a sense of responsibility, society will continue to normalise wasteful behaviour.

Equally problematic is the absence of effective recycling and waste management systems in many parts of the world. Even when citizens separate their rubbish, poor collection mechanisms often result in recyclables ending up in landfills. For instance, the European Union recycles over 50% of packaging waste because of strict infrastructure and accountability measures, while in developing nations, the rate is often below 10%. Without well-funded facilities, informal waste pickers bear the burden, but their capacity is limited. Governments must therefore provide robust sorting technologies, create economic incentives for industries to use recycled materials, and penalise companies that rely excessively on virgin resources. By turning recycling from a niche practice into a mainstream industrial standard, authorities can ensure that waste is transformed back into resources rather than left to accumulate.

In conclusion, the surge in rubbish results from both individual overconsumption and systemic weaknesses in waste management. Governments must attack the problem on two fronts: reshaping consumer habits through awareness campaigns and building reliable recycling infrastructures. Only when cultural attitudes and structural systems align will societies see a genuine reduction in waste generation.

Achieve your dream score with our detailed IELTS eBooks - your complete guide!