Critical Reasoning

It is better for the environment if as much of all packaging as possible is made from materials that are biodegradable in landfills. Therefore, it is always a change for the worse to replace packaging made from paper or cardboard with packaging made from plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills.
Which of the following, if true, constitutes the strongest objection to the argument above?
(A) The paper and cardboard used in packaging are usually not biodegradable in landfills.
(B) Some plastic used in packaging is biodegradable in landfills.
(C) In many landfills, a significant proportion of space is taken up by materials other than discarded packaging materials.
(D) It is impossible to avoid entirely the use of packaging materials that are not biodegradable in landfills.
(E) Sometimes, in packaging an item, plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills are combined with cardboard.

OA - A

IMO it's E
A-contradicts to the premise
B-same reason as A
C-rather supports
D- too extreme
E- may be is not perfect, though conclusion claims that - "It is always a change.....". Introduced by "Sometimes .... package isn't made of solid plastic.....", E slightly questions extremal "Always".
maybe I'm wrong, what is OA ?

IMO A.

A constitutes the strongest objection between A & B.
The argument assumes that cardboard and paper used in packaging are bio-degradable.
What is they are actually not? Then it would not be a change for the worse (meaning it would still be bad, but not worse) to switch.

I did not choose B because of the word "Some"

Agreed totally . the answer should be A .
It is only points which opposes the argument by saying cardboard and paper used in packaging are non bio-degradable.

It seems like A is the right one indeed, I didn't notice stuff about packaging (

I was stuck between A/B and wasn't able to determine the best option - selected B finally!.

The way I look at it, A uses the adverb 'usually' which is quite dangerous. Meaning, usually could also mean very rarely in this instance. What say?

I had the same issue with B. B uses Some plastic, , which includes the possiblity of NONE to ALL plastic.

I probably over thinking, but let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

Hi,

Same as you I hesitated between A and B, but in the end I choosed B.

Answer A says that "Paper and Cardboard are not biodegradable. But it doesn't give us any clue if Paper and Cardboard are a worse or a better choice than plastic.

Answer B tells us that some plastic are biodegradable. Therefore we can conclude that Plastic can be sometimes a good choice regarding the first premise.

What is OA?

IMO-a

IT RAISES THE STRONGEST OBJECTION

What is your definition of a strong objection. Can you elaborate?

beater wrote:It is better for the environment if as much of all packaging as possible is made from materials that are biodegradable in landfills. Therefore, it is always a change for the worse to replace packaging made from paper or cardboard with packaging made from plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills.
Which of the following, if true, constitutes the strongest objection to the argument above?
(A) The paper and cardboard used in packaging are usually not biodegradable in landfills.
(B) Some plastic used in packaging is biodegradable in landfills.
(C) In many landfills, a significant proportion of space is taken up by materials other than discarded packaging materials.
(D) It is impossible to avoid entirely the use of packaging materials that are not biodegradable in landfills.
(E) Sometimes, in packaging an item, plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills are combined with cardboard.

the question states-
it is better to put biodegradable stuff in landfills
it says hence it will be bad for the environment if we put plastics which are non-biodegradable instead of cardboard
the question never states that cardboard is biodegradable or not..

the option A says that most cardboard and paper are non-biodegradable
hence it opposes the point that changing from paper to plastic is bad
the situation is already bad. According to A, plastics will almost equal problems as paper

B contradict the evidence because the argurment said mention the plastics which is not biodegradable.

A or E is correct? pls, help

E is also contradict evidence because argument cover only packings which is from plastics only not from combination

B, E contradict evidence

A is correct

I will go with A



The two strong contenders for this answer is Option A and B.
The reason behind my choice is that nothing is said about the Paper and cardboard used in Landfills.They might not necessarily be biodegradable.
This is the trick which most of GMAT questions of this type have.

We should not assume anything until it has been clearly stated

As for answer B.

In the conclusion itself plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills. so this option gets naturally out as the author has clearly stated about the kind of plastics he is talking about

Answer A seems to be logical one out of other answer choices