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THE PLASTIC BAG BAN

The future of the Earth is in our hands, literally. Our planet seems to depend on the way we choose to carry our groceries home, which leads us to one of the most controversial topics nowadays: the plastic debate.

Well, I've prepared a listening exercise for you to do. I took a news item from NPR about the plastic bag ban in San Francisco. Listen to the story and complete the following sentences. When you finish, check the answers at the end of this post and listen once more, now reading the transcript at the same time.

1. A year ago politician Ross Mirkarimi couldn’t imagine __________ he was going to cause.

2. Roplast Industries in Oroville is one of the manufacturers of plastic bags who got a __________ after the plastic ban was passed.

3. A new bag containing more plastic will hold five or six times as much as the standard disposable bag with the advantage of being _________.

4. The best thing about the ChicoBag folds up into a tiny ________ sack.

5. The bag ban was abandoned in Fairfax because of the ________ by the plastic bag industry.

6. The plastic industry threatened to sue on __________.


This issue is the talk of town in the USA now because one supermarket chain, Whole Foods, has decided to stop offering disposable plastic bags to customers. You can read about this in this article from USA Today and, if you have time, you can also watch this video or this video, both covering this piece of news. However, some people claim that with this measure, there is more than meets the eye. Watch this video about Whole Foods Whole Fraud if you want to know more:




KEY TO THE LISTENING EXERCISE:
1. what a stir
2. boost in business
3. reusable
4. wallet-sized stuff
5. threat of a lawsuit
6. environmental grounds

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