Question

read the passage. people in the united states throw away roughly 266 million tons of garbage annually, and nearly half of that goes to landfills. landfills are a serious problem for the environment. for one thing, the country will eventually run out of space for landfills. also, as it breaks down, most of the garbage in landfills releases toxins into the earth and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. it is important to divert as much garbage away from landfills as possible. one way this can be done is by putting food waste in a composter instead of throwing it out. another way is for local governments to encourage people to recycle; many communities are using single - stream recycling, which allows people to easily place all recyclable materials in the same container. finally, waste - to - energy plants are an excellent way to reduce landfill garbage; they use the garbage as fuel to generate power. which idea does the speaker emphasize by using problem/solution in this passage? ∘ the united states does not have room for any more landfills. ∘ landfills are dangerous to the environment. ∘ people in the united states throw away too much garbage every day. ∘ efforts should be made to avoid using landfills.

Explanation:

The passage first presents the problem of landfills (space shortage, environmental harm from garbage breakdown) and then provides solutions like composting, recycling, and waste - to - energy plants. The main idea emphasized with problem/solution is that we should try to avoid using landfills by using these solutions. The first option focuses only on landfill space, the second on landfill danger, the third on garbage amount, but the fourth is about making efforts to avoid landfills which ties the problem (landfill issues) and solutions (composting, recycling, waste - to - energy) together.

Answer:

D. Efforts should be made to avoid using landfills.