Question

As many landfills run out of space, some communities are making plans and tackling their heaping piles of garbage with innovative solutions. Of the garbage Americans produce every day, only about thirty percent reaches a recycling center. Education about how and what to recycle is costly but essential. Much of the junk we consume and throw out is not designed with recycling in mind. This solid waste creates one of the biggest problems: recyclable material is clogging landfills. In order to extend the lifespan of their landfills, some communities are expanding recycling programs and trying new technologies to turn trash into energy. A few cities are planning new energy plants that burn garbage to produce energy while still producing less pollution than landfills. Several other cities have facilities that use bioreactor landfills to speed up the decomposition process for trash from 100 years to 5-10 years. The costs and pollution generated by landfills force communities to think creatively about what to do with everything we throw out.
Which of the following sentences would be an effective alternative topic sentence for the paragraph?
1. In order to extend the lifespan of their landfills, some communities are expanding recycling programs and trying new technologies to turn trash into energy.
2. As many landfills run out of space, some communities are making plans and tackling their heaping piles of garbage with innovative solutions.
3. Of the garbage Americans produce every day, only about thirty percent reaches a recycling center.
4. The costs and pollution generated by landfills force communities to think creatively about what to do with everything we throw out.

Answer 1

Answer:

Of the sentences provided, it is number 4 that would be the best alternative topic sentence for this paragraph about innovations in what to do with the household waste we produce. The alternative topic sentence would be: "The costs and pollution generated by landfills force communities to think creatively about what to do with everything we throw out."

Explanation:

The fourth option is the most appropriate as an alternative topic sentence because it is the alternative sentence that best summarizes the topics in the paragraph.  The paragraph mentions that not everything we throw out is recycled, and cities are responding by looking for ways to expand recycling, or turning trash into energy. They have also been looking at ways to speed up the process of decomposition to make landfills more efficient. These points can be summarized as concerns about costs and concerns about pollution as detailed in sentence number 4.  

Sentence number 2 is just a repeat of the original topic sentence.  Sentence 1 does not really incorporate the idea of making the waste decompose faster which was one of the options. And sentence 3 repeats information in the paragraph and does not really summarize all points.