Question

the director of a municipal recycling facility is analyzing information from a meeting he went to in 2015. what year did the \percent recycled\ for metal first surpass 20%, as seen in the chart below?

recycling rates over time
% recycled for select materials

chart showing recycling rates for paper/paperboard (green), glass (gray), metals (blue), plastics (orange) from 1960 to 2010

options:

• 2000
• 1990
• 1980
• 1970

Explanation:

Look at the blue bars (Metals) on the bar graph. Check each year's percentage: 1960 (~0%), 1970 (~5%), 1980 (~10%), 1990 (~25%), 2000 (~35%), 2010 (~35%). The first year the percentage exceeds 20% is 1990.

Answer:

1990