The Recycling Footwear Presentation listening test page gives you Section 3 of Cambridge IELTS 19 Listening Test 2 in full: the official answer key for Questions 21–30, playable audio, an explanation for every question with the exact transcript line that proves it, and the complete recording script. Bella and Don weigh up an article on recycling footwear as a presentation topic, disagree about trainers at school, puzzle over a falling recycling rate, and review the recycling manager’s examples of rejected shoes, from stained high heels to worn-out trainers. Questions 21–24 and 29–30 are multiple choice and Questions 25–28 match four types of footwear to rejection reasons chosen from a box of six. Track both voices and their corrections with the multiple choice strategy, then confirm every letter on the complete Cambridge IELTS 19 Listening Test 2 answers page covering all four sections.

Listening Audio — Section 3

Play the recording once, without pausing, and answer Questions 21–30 before you check the key. In the real exam you hear each section exactly once.

Questions 21–30

Questions 21–24

Choose the correct letter, A , B or C .

21. At first, Don thought the topic of recycling footwear might be too limited in scope. hard to research. boring for listeners.

• A — limited in scope.
• B — hard to research.
• C — boring for listeners.

22. When discussing trainers, Bella and Don disagree about how popular they are among young people. how suitable they are for school. how quickly they wear out.

• A — how popular they are among young people.
• B — how suitable they are for school.
• C — how quickly they wear out.

23. Bella says that she sometimes recycles shoes because they no longer fit. she no longer likes them. they are no longer in fashion.

• A — they no longer fit.
• B — she no longer likes them.
• C — they are no longer in fashion.

24. What did the article say that confused Don? Public consumption of footwear has risen. Less footwear is recycled now than in the past. People dispose of more footwear than they used to.

• A — Public consumption of footwear has risen.
• B — Less footwear is recycled now than in the past.
• C — People dispose of more footwear than they used to.

Questions 25–28

What reasons did the recycling manager give for rejecting footwear, according tothe students?

Choose FOUR answers from the box and write the correct letter, A-F.

• A. one shoe was missing
• B. the colour of one shoe had faded
• C. one shoe had a hole in it
• D. the shoes were brand new
• E. he shoes were too dirty
• F. the stitching on the shoes was broken

• Reason
• Footwear

25. the high-heeled shoes

26. the ankle boots

27. the baby shoes

28. the trainers

Questions 29–30

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

29. Why did the project to make ‘new’ shoes out of old shoes fail? People believed the ‘new’ pairs of shoes were unhygienic. There were not enough good parts to use in the old shoes. The shoes in the ‘new’ pairs were not completely alike.

• A — People believed the ‘new’ pairs of shoes were unhygienic.
• B — There were not enough good parts to use in the old shoes.
• C — The shoes in the ‘new’ pairs were not completely alike.

30. Bella and Don agree that they can present their topic from a new angle. with relevant images. in a straightforward way.

• A — from a new angle.
• B — with relevant images.
• C — in a straightforward way.

Recycling Footwear Presentation Listening Answers

Questions and Answers

Where two letters are shown for a single question, either order is accepted, exactly as in the official answer key.

Recycling Footwear Presentation Answer Explanations

21. A (limited in scope) — Don’s first judgement was that “perhaps there isn’t enough to say about it”, which is a topic too limited in scope. B fails because he never calls the topic hard to research, and C fails because he grants it is “quite interesting”, never boring.

22. B (how suitable they are for school) — the pair clash over school wear: Don asks “don’t they look a bit casual for school uniform?”, while Bella counters that “some of them look quite smart on pupils”. They agree on popularity and hard-wearing quality, so the disagreement is suitability.

23. B (she no longer likes them) — Bella confesses she recycles shoes “just because they don’t look great on me any more”. A and C fail because she rules both out herself: the shoes “haven’t gone out of fashion and still fit”.

24. B (Less footwear is recycled now than in the past) — the confusing statistic is that “the amount of recycled footwear has fallen: it’s 6 percent now compared to a previous level of 11 percent”, and Don adds “That doesn’t seem to make sense”. A fails because rising sales are not the confusing part he flags.

25. E (the shoes were too dirty) — the high-heeled shoes were worn once in “a very wet field so the heels were too stained with mud and grass to re-sell them”. Suede and beige describe the shoes rather than the rejection reason, so E is the match.

26. B (the colour of one shoe had faded) — the ankle boots were rejected because “One of the shoes was a much lighter shade than the other one – it had obviously been left in the sun”. The worn heels are the trap, because Don says “that wasn’t the problem”.

27. A (one shoe was missing) — the red baby shoes arrived untied, and “You’d think it would have been easy to find the other, but it wasn’t”. D fails because being “obviously new” was a shame given the loss, not the reason for rejection.

28. C (one shoe had a hole in it) — the trainers looked marathon-worn, and “One of the soles was so worn under the foot that you could put your finger through it”. A sole you can push a finger through is a hole, while “weren’t they split?” is exactly what the answer was not.

29. C (The shoes in the ‘new’ pairs were not completely alike) — Don corrects Bella’s germ theory with the real cause: “people didn’t refuse them for that reason, did they? It was because the pairs of shoes weren’t identical”. B fails because matching parts was never the reported problem, and A fails because “Think of all the germs you could catch!” is the idea he rejects.

30. A (from a new angle) — the agreed plan is to go beyond Bella’s old habit of “thinking about my own recycling behaviour without looking at the bigger picture”, so Don proposes “taking a very different approach to it”. Images and simplicity are never discussed.

Listening Transcript — Section 3

BELLA: Hi Don – did you get the copy of the article on recycling footwear that I emailed you?

DON: Yeah – it’s here … I’ve had a look at it.

BELLA: So do you think it’s a good topic for our presentation?

DON: Well, before I started reading it, I thought recycling footwear, well, although it’s quite interesting, perhaps there isn’t enough to say about it, cos we put shoes in recycling bins, they go to charity shops and that’s about it.

BELLA: … but there’s much more to it than that.

DON: I realise that now and I’m keen to research the topic more.

BELLA: That’s great.

DON: One of the things I didn’t realise until I read the article was just how many pairs of trainers get recycled!

BELLA: Well, a lot of young people wear them all the time now. They’ve become more popular than ordinary shoes.

DON: I know. I guess they are very hard-wearing, but don’t they look a bit casual for school uniform? I don’t think they’re right for that.

BELLA: Actually, I think some of them look quite smart on pupils … better than a scruffy old pair of shoes.

DON: So do you keep shoes a long time?

BELLA: Yes. Though I do tend to wear my old pairs for doing dirty jobs like cleaning my bike.

BELLA: I must admit, I’ve recycled some perfectly good shoes, that haven’t gone out of fashion and still fit, just because they don’t look great on me any more. That’s awful isn’t it?

DON: I think it’s common because there’s so much choice. The article did say that recent sales of footwear have increased enormously.

BELLA: That didn’t surprise me.

DON: No. But then it said that the amount of recycled footwear has fallen: it’s 6 percent now compared to a previous level of 11 percent. That doesn’t seem to make sense.

BELLA: That’s because not everything goes through the recycling process. Some footwear just isn’t good enough to re-sell, for one reason or another, and gets rejected.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

BELLA: So let’s find some examples in the article of footwear that was rejected for recycling.

DON: OK. I think there are some in the interview with the recycling manager. Yeah – here it is.

BELLA: Mmm. Let’s start with the ladies’ high-heeled shoes. What did he say about those?

DON: He said they were probably expensive – the material was suede and they were beige in colour – it looked like someone had only worn them once, but in a very wet field so the heels were too stained with mud and grass to re-sell them.

BELLA: OK … and the leather ankle boots. What was wrong with them?

DON: Apparently, the heels were worn – but that wasn’t the problem. One of the shoes was a much lighter shade than the other one – it had obviously been left in the sun. I suppose even second-hand shoes should look the same!

BELLA: Sure. Then there were the red baby shoes.

DON: Oh yes – we’re told to tie shoes together when we put them in a recycling bin, but people often don’t bother.

BELLA: You’d think it would have been easy to find the other, but it wasn’t. That was a shame because they were obviously new.

DON: The trainers were interesting. He said they looked like they’d been worn by a marathon runner.

BELLA: Yeah – weren’t they split?

DON: Not exactly. One of the soles was so worn under the foot that you could put your finger through it.

BELLA: Well, we could certainly use some of those examples in our presentation to explain why 90 percent of shoes that people take to recycling centres or bins get thrown into landfill.

DON: Mmm. What did you think about the project his team set up to avoid this by making new shoes out of the good parts of old shoes?

BELLA: It sounded like a good idea. They get so many shoes, they should be able to match parts. I wasn’t surprised that it failed, though. I mean who wants to buy second-hand shoes really? Think of all the germs you could catch!

DON: Well, people didn’t refuse them for that reason, did they? It was because the pairs of shoes weren’t identical.

BELLA: They still managed to ship them overseas, though.

DON: That’s another area we need to discuss.

BELLA: You know I used to consider this topic just from my own perspective, by thinking about my own recycling behaviour without looking at the bigger picture. So much happens once shoes leave the recycling area.

DON: It’s not as simple as you first think, and we can show that by taking a very different approach to it.

BELLA: Absolutely. So let’s discuss …

Key Vocabulary and Spelling

Study Tips

In Section 3 the correct answer often rests on the second speaker’s verdict, not the first opinion. Bella finds trainers smart when Don doubts them, and Don overturns her germ theory with “It was because the pairs of shoes weren’t identical”. Anchor each option to the speaker who closes the exchange, the core of the multiple choice strategy for two-voice discussions.

Questions 25–28 punish the first defect mentioned. The ankle boots’ worn heels are dismissed with “that wasn’t the problem”, and the trainers’ supposed split is answered with “Not exactly”, before the real reason follows. The box also plants unused distractors: brand new describes the baby shoes without rejecting them, and broken stitching never appears in the recording.

Numbers carry three marks here, so log each one with its decade and trend. The recycling rate is 6 percent now against a previous 11 percent, 90 percent of donated shoes end in landfill, and sales have “increased enormously”. The question asks which figure confused Don, not which surprised Bella, so match the statistic to the named emotion using the Band 8 listening strategy note-taking routine.

Practice More Listening Tests

Mark the ten answers, reread the explanation for each miss, and add the result to your record on the full Cambridge IELTS 19 Listening Test 2 answers page, which collects the keys, explanations and transcripts for all four sections. The free IELTS listening practice course from Simply IELTS trains the discussion-tracking skills this section demands. Then try this interactive listening test: stoicism ielts listening test with answers and audio for another ten-question paper under exam conditions, and revisit the Section 1 guitar group enquiry and the Section 4 tardigrades lecture to close out the full test.