Question

11. According to the website for the state of Virginia. 0.8 million tonsof clothing is reused or recycled out of 7 million tons of clothingdiscarded. If 17.5 million tons of clothing is discarded, how many tonswill be reused or recycled? Write and solve a proportion.

Answer 1

Given the proportion:

`k=\frac{\text{ reused}}{\text{ discarded}}`

Assuming this proportion remains constant, then, using the values from the problem:

`k=\frac{0.8\text{ million tons}}{7\text{ million tons}}=(4)/(35)`

Now, if 17.5 million tons of clothing are discarded, we can use this ratio to calculate how many tons will be reused:

`\begin{gathered} \frac{\text{ reused}}{17.5\text{ million tons}}=(4)/(35) \\ \\ \therefore\text{ reused }=2\text{ million tons} \end{gathered}`