To reduce the waste of raw materials, the government of Sperland is considering requiring household appliances to be broken down for salvage when discarded. To cover the cost of salvage, the government is planning to charge a fee, which would be imposed when the appliance is first sold. Imposing the fee at the time of salvage would reduce waste more effectively, however, because consumers tend to keep old appliances longer if they are faced with a fee for discarding them.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) Increasing the cost of disposing of an appliance properly increases the incentive to dispose of it improperly.
(B) The fee provides manufacturers with no incentive to produce appliances that are more durable.
(C) For people who have bought new appliances recently, the salvage fee would not need to be paid for a number of years.
(D) People who sell their used, working appliances to others would not need to pay the salvage fee.
(E) Many nonfunctioning appliances that are currently discarded could be repaired at relatively little expense.
Let’s analyze the stimulus-
Premises- data/evidence that leads to the conclusion
Conclusion- opinion/conclusion drawn on the given data
Read the entire argument before you decide what the main point/conclusion of the given argument can be.
What is the data given?
To reduce the waste of raw materials, the government of Sperland is considering requiring household appliances to be broken down for salvage when discarded.
To cover the cost of salvage, the government is planning to charge a fee, which would be imposed when the appliance is first sold.
Based on this data, the author has given his/her opinion?
What is the opinion of the author?
That imposing fee at the time of salvage would reduce waste more effectively
Reason?
because consumers tend to keep old appliances longer if they are faced with a fee for discarding them
We need to find an option that goes against the conclusion of the author that imposing a fee at the time of salvage would reduce waste more effectively
A- Increasing the cost of disposing of an appliance properly increases the incentive to dispose of it improperly.
Increasing the cost of disposing of an appliance increases the incentive to dispose of it improperly.
Option A says that imposing a fee at the time of salvage would not reduce waste more effectively. Or that doing so will only increase disposing of an appliance improperly. This weakens the opinion/ conclusion of the author.