Assignment C - Part 2.i
Authentic Text
✔ Check the Class Description and Notes on Part 2 on the assignment platform before you begin.
✔ The text should be 500 - 700 words long. (4-5 minutes for listening texts).
✔ In this document, provide a copy of the reading text or a transcript of the listening text you
have chosen.
✔ Ensure the text is referenced, and if you have selected a listening text or video, provide a link.
✔ If you choose a reading text, you can shorten and/or adapt it slightly.
✔ Please supply a copy of the original and your adapted version.
✔ If you have adapted the text, briefly explain the decisions you've made about changing the text
in section b) of the essay.
✔ Highlight 12 vocabulary items (words or phrases) which would be useful to pre-teach.
Article for class
Topic: Environment and Sustainability: Oceans
Takeaway food and drink litter dominates
ocean plastic, study shows
Just 10 plastic products make up 75% of all items and scientists say
the pollution must be stopped at source
© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 1
, A turtle tries to eat a plastic cup: consumer items such as food containers make up the largest share of litter origins, the
study found. Photograph: Paulo Oliveira/Alamy Stock Photo
Plastic items from takeaway food and drink dominate the litter in the world’s oceans, according to
the most comprehensive study to date.
Single-use bags, plastic bottles, food containers and food wrappers are the four most widespread
items polluting the seas, making up almost half of the human-made waste, the researchers found.
Just 10 plastic products, also including plastic lids and fishing gear, accounted for three-quarters of
the litter, due to their widespread use and extremely slow degradation.
The scientists said identifying the key sources of ocean plastic made it clear where action was
needed to stop the stream of litter at its source. They called for bans on some common throwaway
items and for producers to be made to take more responsibility.
Action on plastic straws and cotton buds in Europe was welcome, the researchers said, but risked
being a distraction from tackling far more common types of litter. Their results were based on
carefully combining 12m data points from 36 databases across the planet.
“We were not surprised about plastic being 80% of the litter, but the high proportion of takeaway
items did surprise us, which will not just be McDonald’s litter, but water bottles, beverage bottles
like Coca-Cola, and cans,” said Carmen Morales-Caselles, at the University of Cádiz, Spain, who
led the new research.
Straws and stirrers made up 2.3% of the litter and cotton buds and lolly sticks were 0.16%.
Prof Richard Thompson, of the University of Plymouth in the UK, who was not part of the research
team, said: “Having [this data] recorded in a proper scientific way is incredibly useful. There can be
a reluctance to take action on something that seems very obvious because there isn’t a published
study on it.”
Research concluded: “In terms of litter origins, take-out consumer items – mainly plastic bags and
wrappers, food containers and cutlery, plastic and glass bottles, and cans – made up the largest
share.”
The highest concentration of litter was found on shorelines and sea floors near coasts. The
scientists said wind and waves repeatedly sweep litter to the coasts, where it accumulates on the
nearby seafloor. Fishing material, such as ropes and nets, were significant only in the open
oceans, where they made up about half the total litter.
A second study in the same journal examined the litter entering the ocean from 42 rivers in
Europe, and was one of the datasets Morales and colleagues used. It found Turkey, Italy and the
UK were the top three contributors to floating marine litter.
“Mitigation measures cannot mean cleaning up at the river mouth,” said Daniel
González-Fernández of the University of Cádiz, who led the second study. “You have to stop the
litter at the source so the plastic doesn’t even enter the environment in the first place.”
© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 2
Authentic Text
✔ Check the Class Description and Notes on Part 2 on the assignment platform before you begin.
✔ The text should be 500 - 700 words long. (4-5 minutes for listening texts).
✔ In this document, provide a copy of the reading text or a transcript of the listening text you
have chosen.
✔ Ensure the text is referenced, and if you have selected a listening text or video, provide a link.
✔ If you choose a reading text, you can shorten and/or adapt it slightly.
✔ Please supply a copy of the original and your adapted version.
✔ If you have adapted the text, briefly explain the decisions you've made about changing the text
in section b) of the essay.
✔ Highlight 12 vocabulary items (words or phrases) which would be useful to pre-teach.
Article for class
Topic: Environment and Sustainability: Oceans
Takeaway food and drink litter dominates
ocean plastic, study shows
Just 10 plastic products make up 75% of all items and scientists say
the pollution must be stopped at source
© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 1
, A turtle tries to eat a plastic cup: consumer items such as food containers make up the largest share of litter origins, the
study found. Photograph: Paulo Oliveira/Alamy Stock Photo
Plastic items from takeaway food and drink dominate the litter in the world’s oceans, according to
the most comprehensive study to date.
Single-use bags, plastic bottles, food containers and food wrappers are the four most widespread
items polluting the seas, making up almost half of the human-made waste, the researchers found.
Just 10 plastic products, also including plastic lids and fishing gear, accounted for three-quarters of
the litter, due to their widespread use and extremely slow degradation.
The scientists said identifying the key sources of ocean plastic made it clear where action was
needed to stop the stream of litter at its source. They called for bans on some common throwaway
items and for producers to be made to take more responsibility.
Action on plastic straws and cotton buds in Europe was welcome, the researchers said, but risked
being a distraction from tackling far more common types of litter. Their results were based on
carefully combining 12m data points from 36 databases across the planet.
“We were not surprised about plastic being 80% of the litter, but the high proportion of takeaway
items did surprise us, which will not just be McDonald’s litter, but water bottles, beverage bottles
like Coca-Cola, and cans,” said Carmen Morales-Caselles, at the University of Cádiz, Spain, who
led the new research.
Straws and stirrers made up 2.3% of the litter and cotton buds and lolly sticks were 0.16%.
Prof Richard Thompson, of the University of Plymouth in the UK, who was not part of the research
team, said: “Having [this data] recorded in a proper scientific way is incredibly useful. There can be
a reluctance to take action on something that seems very obvious because there isn’t a published
study on it.”
Research concluded: “In terms of litter origins, take-out consumer items – mainly plastic bags and
wrappers, food containers and cutlery, plastic and glass bottles, and cans – made up the largest
share.”
The highest concentration of litter was found on shorelines and sea floors near coasts. The
scientists said wind and waves repeatedly sweep litter to the coasts, where it accumulates on the
nearby seafloor. Fishing material, such as ropes and nets, were significant only in the open
oceans, where they made up about half the total litter.
A second study in the same journal examined the litter entering the ocean from 42 rivers in
Europe, and was one of the datasets Morales and colleagues used. It found Turkey, Italy and the
UK were the top three contributors to floating marine litter.
“Mitigation measures cannot mean cleaning up at the river mouth,” said Daniel
González-Fernández of the University of Cádiz, who led the second study. “You have to stop the
litter at the source so the plastic doesn’t even enter the environment in the first place.”
© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 2
