SAT OwlWhen the town of Harlow began charging customers ten cents for each plastic grocery bag, the number of bags handed out at checkout fell by more than 80 percent. Town officials celebrated the drop as a major cut in plastic waste. An economist reviewing store records, however, found that sales of small plastic trash bags rose sharply during the same period. This finding suggests that, before the fee, many residents ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
had been reusing grocery bags to line household trash cans.
had already been bringing their own reusable bags to the store.
had been buying more groceries than they needed.
had been unwilling to pay for plastic bags of any kind.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
Once free grocery bags became costly, people started buying small trash bags. The likeliest reason is that they had been using grocery bags as trash bags, choice A. That also means the real cut in plastic waste was smaller than officials thought.
Choice B doesn't explain the key finding: if people already used reusable bags, there would be no reason for trash bag sales to jump.
Why the other choices are wrong
- B. Bringing reusable bags wouldn't explain why trash bag sales rose sharply once grocery bags started costing money.
- C. The finding is about trash bags replacing grocery bags. How many groceries people bought never comes up.
- D. Residents began paying for trash bags, so they were willing to pay for plastic bags they needed.
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