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In the city of Oakhaven, the municipal recycling facility processes only plastics labeled type 1 and type 2. If a collected batch of recyclable materials contains any other types of plastic, the facility must either employ manual sorters to remove the unaccepted items or send the entire batch to the landfill. Due to severe municipal budget cuts this year, the facility currently has no manual sorters and has no means to acquire them. Nevertheless, recent audits indicate that more than half of the recycling batches collected from Oakhaven's residential bins contain plastics other than types 1 and 2.

Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. A
    Oakhaven residents are largely unaware of the specific plastic types that the municipal recycling facility is equipped to process.
  2. B
    All of the recycling batches collected from Oakhaven's residential bins will be sent to the municipal landfill.
  3. C
    More than half of the individual plastic items placed in Oakhaven's residential recycling bins are plastics other than types 1 and 2.
  4. More than half of the recycling batches collected from Oakhaven's residential bins will be sent to the landfill.Answer
  5. E
    Any recycling batch from Oakhaven that is sent to the landfill contains plastics other than type 1 and type 2.

Answer

More than half of the recycling batches collected from Oakhaven's residential bins will be sent to the landfill.
The correct answer synthesizes the facts perfectly. The stimulus establishes that if a batch contains unacceptable plastics, it must either be manually sorted or sent to the landfill. We are explicitly told that manual sorting is impossible because the facility has no sorters and no means to acquire them. Therefore, any batch with unacceptable plastics must be sent to the landfill. Since the audits show that more than half of the residential batches contain unacceptable plastics, it logically follows that more than half of these batches must be sent to the landfill.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the conditional rule regarding contaminated batches.
If a batch has plastics other than type 1 and 2, it must be manually sorted OR sent to the landfill.
This establishes the logical consequences for batches containing unaccepted materials.
2
Apply the factual constraints provided in the stimulus.
The facility has no manual sorters and no means to acquire them.
This eliminates the 'manual sorting' option, leaving 'sent to the landfill' as the only possible outcome for contaminated batches.
3
Combine the rule with the quantitative data provided by the audits.
Since more than half of the residential batches are contaminated, and all contaminated batches must go to the landfill, more than half of the batches must go to the landfill.
This yields a deduction that must be true based entirely on the provided premises.

Key Concept

Synthesizing conditional statements with quantitative premises to form a valid deduction.
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