IELTS Essay Bank · Task 1 Academic · Process / diagram
Glass Bottle Recycling Process: Band 8 Sample Answer
199 words · Topic: Environment ·
The question
The diagram below illustrates the process by which used glass bottles are recycled into new ones.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
Diagram stages (summarised):
- Stage 1: used bottles are collected from homes and bottle banks.
- Stage 2: the bottles are sorted by colour and washed.
- Stage 3: the clean glass is crushed into small pieces called cullet.
- Stage 4: the cullet is melted in a furnace at a high temperature.
- Stage 5: the molten glass is moulded into new bottles and cooled.
- Stage 6: the new bottles are filled and delivered to shops.
Band 8 sample report
Highlighted = useful vocabularyThe diagram illustrates the stages involved in turning used glass bottles into new ones.
Overall, the process consists of six main stages, beginning with the collection of used bottles and ending with the delivery of new, filled bottles to retailers. The first three stages prepare the old glass, while the final three manufacture and distribute the new product, and the whole sequence forms a closed loop, since bottles bought from shops can later be collected again.
At the first stage, used bottles are gathered from households and bottle banks. They are then sorted according to colour and washed, so that only clean glass passes on to the next step. Following this, the glass is crushed into small fragments, known as cullet.
Once this has been done, the cullet is melted in a furnace at a high temperature. The resulting molten glass is subsequently shaped in moulds to form new bottles, which are left to cool before moving on to the final phase.
In the last stage, the new bottles are filled and delivered to shops, ready to be sold. From there, they eventually make their way back to homes and bottle banks, allowing the cycle to begin once again.
Word count: 199
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The same question is ready on its practice page, with a Band 8–9 model answer to compare.
Why this is Band 8: criterion by criterion
Task Achievement
Band 8All six stages are covered accurately and in the correct order, with nothing added that the diagram does not show. The overview is particularly effective: as well as naming the first and last stages, it identifies the structure of the process — preparation of the old glass followed by manufacture and distribution — and recognises that it is cyclical. Key stages are highlighted clearly, for example by explaining that the glass is washed "so that only clean glass passes on to the next step". This is a well-judged Band 8 response; to reach Band 9, the cyclical link could be tied more precisely to the diagram's own labels.
Coherence and Cohesion
Band 8The stages are sequenced logically and paragraphed sensibly, with the preparation stages and the manufacturing stages in separate paragraphs. A range of sequencing devices is used naturally and without repetition ("then", "Following this", "Once this has been done", "subsequently", "In the last stage"), and reference is always clear ("They", "The resulting molten glass", "From there"). Cohesion is managed well throughout, as Band 8 requires.
Lexical Resource
Band 8The vocabulary is wide and precise for a technical process: "fragments", "a closed loop", "shaped in moulds" and "retailers" paraphrase the diagram's labels rather than copying them. The writer also uses less common items with good control of collocation ("make their way back", "left to cool"). There is one minor inappropriacy: "At the first stage" is less natural than In the first stage or simply First. Only occasional slips like this are consistent with Band 8.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Band 8The passive voice — essential for describing a process — is used accurately and flexibly ("are gathered", "is crushed", "are filled and delivered"), and it is combined with other structures: a reduced relative clause ("known as cullet"), a present perfect passive in a time clause ("Once this has been done"), a non-defining relative clause ("which are left to cool") and a participle clause ("allowing the cycle to begin once again"). The majority of sentences are error-free, which meets the Band 8 descriptor.
Useful vocabulary and collocations
- a closed loop
- a precise way to describe a cyclical process in an overview.
- passes on to
- natural phrasal verb for movement from one stage to the next.
- known as cullet
- introduces a technical term from the diagram without copying the label.
- Once this has been done
- a sequencing clause that varies the usual "After that".
- shaped in moulds
- paraphrases "moulded" and adds precision about how the bottles are formed.
How this report could reach Band 9
- 1Use the most natural preposition for stages: In the first stage or First, rather than "At the first stage".
- 2For Band 9, connect the final sentence directly to Stage 1 by naming it (e.g. …returning to homes and bottle banks, where Stage 1 begins again), so the cycle is explicitly linked to the diagram.
This is an original sample report written by IELTS-Bank to illustrate Band 8 against the public IELTS Writing band descriptors. The band scores are our assessment, not an official IELTS result. IELTS-Bank is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, or Cambridge University Press & Assessment. "IELTS" is a registered trademark of its respective owners and is used here for descriptive purposes only.