NARRATOR:
You will hear two students, Bella and Don, discussing footwear recycling for a presentation.
NARRATOR:
First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.
NARRATOR:
Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.
BELLA:
Did you receive the article about recycling footwear that I sent you?
DON:
Yes, I've got it here and I've read through it.
BELLA:
Do you think it will work as the subject of our presentation?
DON:
Before reading the article, I was doubtful.
DON:
Footwear recycling sounded interesting, but I thought the subject might be too narrow.
DON:
I assumed people simply put shoes in recycling bins, and then the shoes went to charity shops, leaving us with very little to discuss.
BELLA:
But the process is much more complicated than that.
DON:
I understand that now, and I'd like to investigate it further.
DON:
One fact that was new to me was the huge number of trainers that are recycled.
BELLA:
That makes sense because many young people wear trainers constantly now.
BELLA:
They're more popular than conventional shoes.
DON:
True, and they seem very durable.
DON:
But I think trainers look too informal with the school uniform, so I don't feel they're suitable for school.
BELLA:
Some styles look quite smart on students, certainly smarter than a worn-out, untidy pair of shoes.
DON:
Do you normally keep your shoes for a long time?
BELLA:
I often save old pairs for messy tasks, such as cleaning my bicycle.
BELLA:
Though I have to admit that I've recycled shoes that were still in good condition.
BELLA:
They still fitted and weren't unfashionable.
BELLA:
I simply stopped liking how they looked on me.
DON:
That's rather wasteful, isn't it?
DON:
It's probably common because shoppers have so many choices.
DON:
The article also reported that footwear sales have risen dramatically in recent years.
BELLA:
That didn't surprise me.
DON:
What puzzled me was the next statistic.
DON:
The proportion of footwear being recycled has dropped to 6%, whereas it used to be 11%.
DON:
I couldn't understand why it had fallen.
BELLA:
It's because some donated footwear never completes the recycling process.
BELLA:
If shoes can't be sold again for one reason or another, the recycling center rejects them.
NARRATOR:
Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.
NARRATOR:
Now listen carefully and answer questions 25 to 30.
BELLA:
Let's identify some examples from the article of footwear that the recycling center refused.
DON:
There are several in the interview with the recycling manager.
DON:
Here's the relevant section.
BELLA:
Let's begin with the women's high-heeled shoes.
BELLA:
What did the manager say about them?
DON:
They were probably costly.
DON:
They were made of beige suede and seemed to have been worn only once.
DON:
However, that single outing must have been in a very wet field, because the heels were heavily covered in mud and grass.
DON:
They were simply too dirty to sell again.
BELLA:
What was the problem with the leather ankle boots?
DON:
Their heels were worn, but that wasn't why they were rejected.
DON:
One boot had become much paler than the other, probably after being left in sunlight, so the colors no longer matched.
BELLA:
Next came the red baby shoes.
BELLA:
People are instructed to fasten a pair together before placing it in a recycling bin, but many don't do that.
BELLA:
The staff might have expected to find the missing shoe, but they never did.
BELLA:
It was unfortunate, because the shoe they had was clearly brand new.
DON:
The trainers were interesting too.
DON:
The manager said they looked as if a marathon runner had used them.
BELLA:
Weren't they rejected because the stitching had split?
DON:
The sole of one trainer had worn so thin under the foot that there was a hole large enough to push a finger through.
BELLA:
Those examples would be useful in our presentation.
BELLA:
They help explain why 90% of the shoes taken to recycling bins or centers eventually end up in landfill.
DON:
What did you think of the manager's project to prevent that waste by assembling new shoes from usable parts of old ones?
BELLA:
It seemed promising.
BELLA:
With so many discarded shoes, I expected the team to find enough components to match.
BELLA:
Still, I wasn't surprised that customers rejected the result.
BELLA:
Personally, I'd worry about germs in secondhand footwear.
BELLA:
But hygiene wasn't the reason people refused to buy them.
BELLA:
The project failed because the two shoes in each newly assembled pair weren't completely identical.
BELLA:
The team did manage to send the shoes abroad, though.
DON:
That's another issue we should cover.
BELLA:
I used to think about the subject only in terms of my own recycling habits.
BELLA:
I hadn't considered the broader system or everything that happens after shoes leave a collection point.
DON:
The process is far less straightforward than it appears, and presenting it from this different perspective will give us a fresh angle.
BELLA:
So let's discuss...
