Critical Reasoning

In an attempt to promote the widespread use of paper rather than plastic, and thus reduce nonbiodegradable waste, the council of a small town plans to ban the sale of disposable plastic goods for which substitutes made of paper exist. The council argues that since most paper is entirely biodegradable, paper goods are environmentally preferable.
Which of the following, if true, indicates that the plan to ban the sale of disposable plastic goods is ill suited to the town council's environmental goals?
(A) Although biodegradable plastic goods are now available, members of the town council believe biodegradable paper goods to be safer for the environment.
(B) The paper factory at which most of the townspeople are employed plans to increase production of biodegradable paper goods.
(C) After other towns enacted similar bans on the sale of plastic goods, the environmental benefits were not discernible for several years.
(D) Since most townspeople prefer plastic goods to paper goods in many instances, they are likely to purchase them in neighboring towns where plastic goods are available for sale.
(E) Products other than those derived from wood pulp are often used in the manufacture of paper goods that are entirely biodegradable
I am getting confused in C and D..? Please Clarify.

IMO D. What is OA?

D attacks the idea head on. The stimulus says the town plans to ban plastic goods and replace them with paper goods -> promoting environment friendly goods usage. But what if town people circumvent this and get plastic goods (preferred choice) from some where else like other neighboring towns. In that case the of using paper collapses.

Hope it helps.

Thanks,
V

Yes the correct answer is D.
Thanks for the clarification

@Siddhant -

Look at C in this way

C says that environmental benefits were not evident for several years but ultimately they WERE.
Even if there was a small amount of benefit - we can disregard this choice.
...Which is a good reason to eliminate this one.

Hope this hepls

Yes, thats better,even i also started thinking on those lines.

Thanks Charu

why D ? isn't this a sort of " assume the will " flaw ?

siddhantlife wrote:In an attempt to promote the widespread use of paper rather than plastic, and thus reduce nonbiodegradable waste, the council of a small town plans to ban the sale of disposable plastic goods for which substitutes made of paper exist. The council argues that since most paper is entirely biodegradable, paper goods are environmentally preferable.
Which of the following, if true, indicates that the plan to ban the sale of disposable plastic goods is ill suited to the town council's environmental goals?
(A) Although biodegradable plastic goods are now available, members of the town council believe biodegradable paper goods to be safer for the environment.
(B) The paper factory at which most of the townspeople are employed plans to increase production of biodegradable paper goods.
(C) After other towns enacted similar bans on the sale of plastic goods, the environmental benefits were not discernible for several years.
(D) Since most townspeople prefer plastic goods to paper goods in many instances, they are likely to purchase them in neighboring towns where plastic goods are available for sale.
(E) Products other than those derived from wood pulp are often used in the manufacture of paper goods that are entirely biodegradable
I am getting confused in C and D..? Please Clarify.

Look at the conclusion carefully - it says that the ban on disposable plastic goods is ill-suited (meaning, not useful) for the council's ultimate environmental goals. We need to identify the answer option that strengthens this.

A, B and E are clearly out.
C: This option merely says that the environmental benefits were not discernible for many years. It does not say that there were no environmental benefits. Thus, we cannot conclude safely that this option will strengthen the conclusion.

On the other hand, option D gives a good reason why the council's goals will be affected: if people still prefer plastic and buy it from neighboring towns, then the purpose of the ban is getting defeated. So, the ban is ill-suited to the council's goal. (Probably, a better option would be to educate the townspeople on using biodegradable materials.)