pollution essay writing task 2

IELTS Charlie

Your Guide to IELTS Band 7

IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample Essay: Plastic

This IELTS Writing Task 2 sample essay is a problems-solutions essay on the topic of plastic pollution from Cambridge IELTS 16 . This lesson in includes my essay plan, my example essay, a vocabulary list and a fill-in-the-blanks activity. So let’s get started!

Here is the task:

Plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic packaging are bad for the environment. What damage does plastic do to the environment? What can be done by governments and individuals to solve this problem?

Cambridge General Training 16 (Test 1)

This is a topic that has been on the news a lot over the last few years, especially since Sir David Attenborough’s BBC documentary, BBC Planet II .

If you’re struggling to generate ideas for this essay topic, read Greenpeace’s page about plastic pollution .

What Damage? (Problem)

Plastic in water supply

When plastic degrades, tiny particles get washed into water supply. These are toxic, so can cause disease, e.g. cancer

Animals try to eat plastic

Animals mistake them for food. Causes problems
Some animals may choke on plastic bags and die

Make plastic packaging more expensive.

Extra cost of plastic will encourage people to re-use plastic or avoid it altogether
Supermarkets can charge for using plastic bags, so people will bring own bags.

Improve water supply

Many people buy drinking water in plastic bottles because local water supply is poor (bacteria, heavy metals, e.g. Thailand, Turkey)

Here is my visual plan for this essay. Click on the image to view it full-size.

Get Your Own IELTS Essay Planning Templates

Plastic use has increased dramatically over the last 50 years, replacing more traditional packaging such as glass bottles, tins and paper bags. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in a huge amount of plastic being discarded, and this has caused a number of environmental problems.

One of the main problems – one that has only recently been discovered – is that when plastic degrades, it releases tiny particles which eventually get washed into the water supply. These particles can be toxic if ingested in large enough quantities, and may even be carcinogenic. Another problem is that animals may mistake plastic items for food. For example, seagulls often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, and try to eat them, causing them to choke and die. Many larger aquatic animals have been found washed up on beaches with their digestive systems full of plastic material.

So what can be done about this? One of the obvious solutions is to make plastic packaging more expensive in order to encourage people to re-use plastic or avoid it altogether. Supermarkets in many countries have started to charge consumers for plastic bags and this has proved to be successful, with many people bringing their own reusable shopping bags. Another solution might be to improve local water supply. In many developing countries, tap water cannot be drunk because it contains bacteria or heavy metals, so people instead buy bottled water. However, this creates a colossal amount of plastic waste since these bottles are single-use. Helping countries like Thailand or Turkey modernise their domestic water supply infrastructure would therefore lead to a large reduction in the use of plastic bottles.

To summarise, plastic packaging has harmful effects both on drinking water and for animals, but making it more expensive and improving access to drinkable water in the developing world can go a long way to reducing these problems.

(308 words)

Here is some of the language in my essay that would ensure a high band score. Note that most of this language are phrases and collocations , not single words. Examiners are looking at your ability to use “lexical items” (i.e. groups of words) at Band 7 and above.

glass bottles, tins and paper bags
a huge amount of plastic being discarded
a number of environmental problems
has only recently been discovered
plastic degrades
releases tiny particles
washed into the water supply
carcinogenic
mistake…for
aquatic animals
washed up on beaches
re-use plastic
reusable shopping bags
local water supply
heavy metals
colossal amount of
domestic water supply infrastructure

Can you re-create my essay? Without looking at the essay again, fill in the missing spaces with the correct words from my essay above. Good luck! (The activity works best on a desktop, laptop or tablet computer).

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3

Paragraph 4

3 thoughts on “IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample Essay: Plastic”

You are a brilliant teacher 😊

Thank you, Jashan!

Thank you, very useful.

Comments are closed.

IELTS® is a registered trademark of Cambridge English Language Assessment, the British Council, and IDP Education Australia. By using this website, you agree that you fully understand that ieltscharlie.com is not affiliated, approved or endorsed by Cambridge English Language Assessment, the British Council, or IDP Education Australia.

Unit 22489, PO Box 6945, London, W1A 6US, United Kingdom

Privacy Overview

Discover the 7 STEPS to BAND 7 in IELTS Writing Task 2

IELTS Mentor "IELTS Preparation & Sample Answer"

Skip to content
Jump to main navigation and login

Nav view search

IELTS Sample

IELTS Writing Task 2/ Essay Topics with sample answer.

Ielts essay # 1321 - water pollution has become an increasing problem, ielts writing task 2/ ielts essay:, water pollution has become an increasing problem over the past few decades., what causes water pollution how can we prevent this problem.