I believe that this is a well written essay but, it suffers from under developed paragraph presentations. You have to remember that even though you clearly restated the prompt and offered a proper outline based on the discussion instruction requirements, if you do not clearly explain yourself in the reasoning paragraphs, you will lose points in the C&C section.  
  
While you would have scored better in the TA section by offering direct responses to the two questions posed, that is not to say that you did not approach the essay format in the proper manner. The format you chose to use in response to the prompt is acceptable. The problem is that your paragraphs do not have balanced discussions.  
  
In the second paragraph, you used a sentence filler. The first sentence in the paragraph does not help move the essay forward in terms of content. You do not need to use word fillers to meet the word count. You should meet the word count through a properly developed explanation. In this paragraph, you presented a good topic sentence, but did not support it with a related example and supporting explanation for the sample. Instead, you offered a second discussion topic which did help your essay presentation because you did not manage to again, use proper examples and supporting data to support it. Without the example and supporting data, the examiner will score you down in the C&C and TA sections based on under developed paragraph presentations. The same problem exists in your third paragraph. The presentation of the second solution was under represented.  
  
For these types of questions, you will do well to use 2 related topics that can share a related example and supporting information. You do not need to present 2 topic sentences, just related topics in one sentence. For example, in the causes paragraph, you could have said:  
  
*People have become increasingly dependent on the use of plastic products for both consumer and industrial uses. Everything from food containers to water bottles are made from disposable plastic products, which are discharged into the environment. The manufacture of these products also creates air and water pollution. These 2 activities have a direct impact on the carbon emissions in our environment, causing a combined global warming effect.*  
  
By using related discussion topics in a single paragraph, you will be able to use the same or 2 different examples which can help you better explain your point and, in the process, use a dual supporting explanation to justify the relationship of the 2 topics when representing the prompt question. The same format could have been used for the third paragraph also.  
  
Look, this is your first essay, you are not yet familiar with the response writing methods. It would be unfair to judge you on your first writing task. I do not score students immediately, based on their first essay submission. I use this to gauge your writing abilities and English comprehension skills instead. I have to say, your writing skills are okay and your comprehension skills as good. It is just your response presentation that needs work. With any luck, you will be able to present me with improvements in your next essay. I'll score you then.