Full IELTS Listening Mock 6: Work and Sustainability

Part 1: Workplace Training Booking Receptionist: Good morning, Greenline Community Services, this is Anna speaking. How can I help? Caller: Hello, I am calling because I would like to arrange a workplace sustainability training for office teams. I saw the notice online, but I wanted to check the details before I book. Receptionist: Of course. For that request, you want the waste-reduction and purchasing workshop. We also have advice tables, but the appointment gives you more time with a volunteer. Caller: That sounds right. I was worried I had chosen the wrong session because the website lists several different tables. Receptionist: No problem. First, can I take your full name, please? Caller: Yes, it is Harriet Lee. The surname is spelled L-E-E. Receptionist: Thank you. I have you down as a company employee. Can I take a contact number in case the volunteer needs to change the time? Caller: The number is 07366 914280. Let me repeat that because people sometimes mishear it: 07366 914280. Receptionist: Great, I have 07366 914280. And the best email address? Caller: harriet.lee@example.com. Email is fine for the confirmation, but a phone call is better if anything changes on the day. Receptionist: We had places on 5 September, but that session filled this morning. There is one space on 6 September, although it is quite late in the day. Caller: 6 September is difficult for me. Is there anything later in the month? Receptionist: Yes, I can book you for 11 September at 1:20 pm. That is a quieter slot, so the volunteer should have time to look at the issue properly. Caller: 11 September at 1:20 pm works well. Where exactly do I need to go? I thought it was in Room 8 in the business centre. Receptionist: It used to be there, but the room has changed. The appointment will be in Training Room B at the Riverside Enterprise Hub. We will put signs at the entrance as well. Caller: Thanks for clarifying. Is there a charge? Receptionist: The basic booking fee is sixty pounds. Group discounts apply only when four or more staff attend together. Caller: That is clear. What should I bring with me? Receptionist: Please bring a recent office purchasing list. The session leader is Mr. Jensen, and the confirmation email will include the same details. Caller: Great. If I cannot attend, what should I do? Receptionist: Please email the centre two working days before the session. These appointments are popular, so early cancellation lets us offer the place to someone on the waiting list. Caller: Understood. So I am booked for 11 September at 1:20 pm, in Training Room B at the Riverside Enterprise Hub, and I need to bring a recent office purchasing list. Receptionist: That is right. You will receive the confirmation within ten minutes. Is there anything else I can help with? Caller: No, that is everything. Thank you for your help. Receptionist: You are welcome. Goodbye. Part 2: Sustainable Work Expo Host: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Sustainable Work Expo. I will explain the layout and the main changes before you start exploring. The first change is the venue. The event was originally advertised for the conference hotel, but it has moved to the riverside exhibition hall. Please use the west entrance; the other doors are for staff and deliveries only. Host: When you arrive, go first to the desk beside the reusable badge collection point. Even if you booked online, you need to collect a programme and a small map, because several locations changed yesterday. If you need general help, the information point is left of registration beside the programme wall. Refreshments are on the right next to the water refill station, and they will be available for most of the day. Host: Now picture the site as a long rectangle, with the entrance behind you. On the left as you come in, the first area is for remote-work technology providers. If you continue along the left side towards the back, you will reach low-carbon commuting advice. These areas are easy to confuse because both have volunteers in green shirts, so use the signs rather than the colour of the shirts. Host: On the right side, the first section is recycled office furniture. Further along the right side, in the middle, you will find energy-saving equipment. At the back right there is the networking lounge at the back right. Please note this correction: energy-saving equipment is in the middle of the right side, not next to the lounge. Some early programmes printed the old position, so check the map you receive today. Host: A popular service today is the supplier audit help desk. It was listed as booth 20, but it has moved to booth 32. General guidance is available at booth 10. The staff there can help you choose which activities are most relevant if you have limited time. Host: The opening hours have also changed. Publicity said 10 am to 7 pm, but today's correct hours are 9 am to 3 pm. There will be a short welcome talk at 9:25 am. Remember that the audit help desk closes at 2:20 pm, so do not leave that service until the very end. Host: For practical arrangements, please bring the digital ticket QR code. If you complete stamps from six activity points, you can enter a draw to win a refurbished tablet. The main demonstration has been moved to 12:10 pm because the morning setup took longer than expected. Host: Finally, please move slowly through the narrow sections and leave the quiet area for people who need a break from the crowd. If you are unsure where to go, return to the information point rather than asking staff who are running demonstrations. Enjoy Sustainable Work Expo, and make sure you keep the updated programme with you. Part 3: Research Project on Reusable Packaging Professor Lane: Come in, Grace and Sam. I have read your proposal on whether reusable takeaway containers would work in campus cafes. The topic is promising, but the method still needs tightening before you collect more data. Grace: That is exactly where we are stuck. I think we should focus on interviewing cafe managers about washing and storage constraints because it gives us detailed comments and examples. Sam: I understand that, but I am worried the sample will be too small. I would rather collect broader data by surveying students about deposits and return points. Professor Lane: Both of you are partly right. I suggest combine manager interviews with a student survey focused on behaviour. The smaller method can show you what to ask, while the wider method can test whether those themes appear beyond a few people. Grace: My concern is time. If we do both, we might not finish the analysis properly. Professor Lane: Then divide the work clearly. Grace will interview cafe managers, and Sam will design the student survey and analyse results. Do not both try to do every stage, or you will duplicate effort and still feel behind. Sam: That split is fair, but I am not sure what to include in the background section. We have too many articles. Professor Lane: Start with a case study by Patel and O'Connor. It summarises the field and will help you select only the studies that connect directly to your research question. Grace: What about variables that might affect the result? We discussed some, but we have not listed them in the method. Professor Lane: You need to control for meal frequency, commute distance, and whether students already carry reusable cups. If you ignore those, your results may look clearer than they really are. Sam: I can add those to the survey. I will also follow your advice to ask about inconvenience directly because polite support does not always predict behaviour. Professor Lane: Good. Piloting will show whether the wording is clear and whether people understand the scale in the same way. Grace: We also need to talk about deadlines. The current final deadline is coming too quickly. Professor Lane: The original deadline was 16 January. The department will allow an extension to 23 January, but you must request it by 10 January. Sam: That helps, but you still need to see something before the final version, don't you? Professor Lane: Yes. Send me a substantial draft by 18 January. It should include the introduction, method, and at least some early analysis. Grace: Could we meet again before that? I would like feedback on the interview coding. Professor Lane: Let's meet on Thursday the 9th. Bring one coded interview extract and the survey draft, even if they are not perfect. Sam: Should we change the research question to make it easier? Professor Lane: Do not change the central question yet. Narrow the evidence instead. A focused mixed-methods project is better than a broad project with shallow data. Grace: That makes sense. I will keep the interviews focused on examples, not general opinions. Sam: And I will make the survey shorter so people actually finish it. Professor Lane: Exactly. Your aim is not to collect the maximum amount of data; it is to collect data that answers your question clearly. Part 4: Lecture on Circular Economy Workplaces Lecturer: Good morning. Today's lecture is about circular economy practices in workplaces. This subject matters because of rising material costs and pressure to reduce waste. In many discussions it is treated as a technical issue, but it also affects behaviour, cost, planning, and public expectations. Lecturer: A useful term here is circular procurement. By this I mean buying products and services with repair, reuse, and end-of-life recovery already planned. The definition is important because it moves us away from thinking about one isolated product or site and towards a system of decisions. Lecturer: One sector where this is visible is office management and procurement. In that sector, small choices often accumulate. A single decision may not seem significant, but repeated across a campus, workplace, or city, it changes cost, risk, and the experience of people using the space. Lecturer: Evidence is developing. For example, a survey of medium-sized firms found lower replacement costs when equipment leases included repair clauses. This does not prove that every intervention will work everywhere, but it shows that carefully designed changes can produce measurable benefits when they fit the local context. Lecturer: There are limitations. Not every product can be reused safely or economically. This point is often missed in public debate. People like simple solutions, but environmental and social systems rarely respond to one action on its own. Lecturer: The main barrier is staff habits formed around convenience and single-use purchasing. Even when the evidence is persuasive, organisations have budgets, habits, and competing priorities. That is why implementation often depends on leadership as much as on technical knowledge. Lecturer: A practical example comes from a design studio that cut storage waste after standardising refillable materials. The success came not from a slogan, but from changing the everyday process. People were given a simpler route to make the better choice, and the organisation measured the result. Lecturer: Policy also has a role. One useful approach is procurement rules that score suppliers on repair options and take-back schemes. Such policies do not remove the need for judgement, but they make long-term thinking part of ordinary decisions rather than an optional extra. Lecturer: To conclude, the implication is that sustainable workplaces depend on purchasing decisions made long before waste appears. For students and professionals, the key lesson is to ask how a system behaves over time, who carries the cost, and which small decisions make the desired behaviour easier.