How will the right answer fit in terms of support and conclusion?

Only the right answer will call out why the support doesn’t establish the conclusion.

Highlight the main conclusion in the passage, if there is one:

Making some types of products from recycled materials is probably as damaging to the environment as it would be to make those products from entirely nonrecycled materials.

Columnist: [CONCLUSION]. [SUPPORT], and [SUPPORT].

You should recognize that this conclusion is making a comparison. That means you can anticipate that the right answer will make the same comparison between using recycled versus nonrecycled materials. The author only talks about a downside of recycled materials. They’re probably ignoring some benefits of recycled products, or downsides to nonrecycled materials.

Map the wording of the answers to the wording of the passage:

(A) uses the word “environment”…

Nope, the author’s use of the word environment was pretty clear and straightforward both times. This has nothing to do with the flawed comparison the author made.

(B) treats an effect…as if it were instead a cause…

Nope, the argument isn’t about cause-and-effect. That has nothing to do with the comparison in the passage.

(C) …may not be representative…

Nope, there’s no wording in the passage to indicate a sampling issue. That only happens when there’s a survey or another sample taken as part of the support. And still nothing about the comparison.

(D) …recycled materials may have environmental benefits…

Boom! This is calling out that the author didn’t flesh out the pros and cons, which is definitely a flaw when your conclusion makes a direct comparison. If this is true, then the conclusion becomes highly questionable.

(E) …the earlier phenomenon must be a cause of the later one…

Again, the author doesn’t claim a cause-and-effect relationship. And they certainly didn’t say there “must be” one. That really strong wording is a clear signal that this is the wrong answer.

(D) is the correct answer.