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Waste reduction fast facts: Trash
Garbage and recycling › Recycle at school › Fast facts about waste reduction › Trash
This resource is not exhaustive nor is it all-inclusive, but can be cited and dated from primary and secondary sources. To find out more about the methodology or accuracy, contact the referenced source.
Metro does not validate nor endorse any of these facts.
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The EPA has concluded that all landfills will eventually leak into the environment. –U.S. Geological Survey, "What Happens to the Waste in Landfills?", Fact Sheet 040-03, 2003
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-040-03 -
In 2001, the garbage business – concentrated in the hands of a few major corporations – was a $57 billion-a-year industry. –Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash, Elizabeth Royte, Little, Brown and Company, 2005
http://www.metro-region.org/article.cfm?articleID=5579 -
Americans waste or cause to be wasted nearly 1 million pounds of materials per person per year. –Natural Capitalism; Paul Hawken, Amory and L. Hunter Lovin; Little Brown & Co.; September 1999
www.natcap.org/sitepages/pid20.php -
About 94 percent of the materials extracted for use in
manufacturing durable products become waste before the product is
manufactured . . . 80 percent of what we make is thrown away within six
months of production. –Natural Capitalism; Paul Hawken; Amory and L. Hunter, Lovin Little Brown & Co.; September 1999
www.natcap.org/sitepages/pid20.php -
For every garbage can placed at the curb, the equivalent of
71 garbage cans of waste is created in mining, logging, agriculture,
oil and gas exploration, and the industrial processes used to convert
raw materials into finished products and packaging. –GrassRoots Recycling Network, “We can go beyond recycling to zero waste,” 2001
www.grrn.org/zerowaste/kit/briefing/brochure1.pdf -
In the U.S., we generate enough trash each day to fill 44,919 garbage trucks that hold 9 tons of trash each. –Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, “Recycling Facts and Figures,” PUBL CE-163, 2002
www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/aw/wm/publications/ - Each year the U.S. disposes of or destroys more than 30 million tons of hazardous waste, 250 million tons of nonhazardous industrial waste, 136 million tons of construction and demolition waste and 165 million tons of municipal solid waste. –Environmental Protection Agency, “Resource Conservation Challenge: Reducing Waste and Recovering Energy,” EPA 530-F-02-032, 2002
- In the State of Oregon, per capita waste disposal rose 1.6 percent between 2002 and 2003. –Department of Environmental Quality, 2003 Oregon Recovery and Waste Generation Rates Report, December 2004
- Total waste generation in 2003 in Oregon was almost 5 million tons. Per capita waste generation rose to a record high of 2,798 pounds per person. –Department of Environmental Quality, 2003 Oregon Recovery and Waste Generation Rates Report, December 2004
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Residential waste (including waste from apartment houses) was
estimated to be 55 to 65 percent of total municipal solid waste
generated in 2003. Waste from schools and commercial locations, such as
hospitals and businesses constituted 35 to 45 of municipal solid waste
generated in 2003. –EPA, “Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2003 Facts and Figures,” 2003
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/pubs/msw05rpt.pdf -
Organic materials continue to be the largest component of
municipal solid waste by weight: paper and paperboard products account
for 35 percent of the waste stream, with yard trimmings and food scraps
together accounting for about 24 percent. Plastics comprise 11 percent;
metals make up 8 percent; and rubber, leather and textiles account for
about 7 percent. Wood follows at 6 percent, and glass at 5 percent.
Miscellaneous wastes made up approximately 3 percent of the municipal
solid waste generated in 2003. –EPA, “Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2003 Facts and Figures,” 2003
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/pubs/msw05rpt.pdf - Each individual generates about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year – about 4.5 pounds per person, per day. If we continue this pattern, we will have each created 90,000 pounds of trash in our lifetimes. –Environmental Protection Agency, “Resource Conservation Challenge: Reducing Waste and Recovering Energy,” EPA 530-F-02-033, 2002
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In 2003, U.S. residents, businesses, and institutions produced
more than 236 million tons of municipal solid waste, which is
approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day. –Environmental Protection Agency, “Municipal Solid Waste, Basic Facts,” Last updated May 17, 2005 (Accessed 8/05)
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/facts.htm -
Due to increased recovery, the net per capita discard rate (not
including recycling and composting) in 2003 was 3.09 pounds per person
per day, down from 3.14 pounds per day in 2002. –EPA, “Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2003 Facts and Figures,” 2003
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/pubs/msw05rpt.pdf - From 1993 to 2003, annual waste generation increased 33 percent to 1.6 tons per capita in the Portland metro region. Recycling jumped 80 percent to 0.8 tons in 2003. Per capita disposal remained flat in this period, only increasing 4 percent. –Metro, internal document, 2005
- Almost onr-third of the residential waste in the Portland metro region consists of paper, yard trimmings and containers which could be recycled. –Metro, internal document, 2005
- Every ton of recycled material saves 2.5 cubic yards of landfill space. The 868,000 tons of paper, glass, metals and plastic recycled in the Portland metro region in 2001 saved about 2.2 million cubic yards of landfill space. –Metro, internal report, 2003
- Recycling 868,000 tons of materials replaces the expense of siting and operating two additional regional transfer stations in the Portland Metro region. –Metro, internal report, 2003
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Methane produced by landfills is a major greenhouse gas 20 to 30 times more potent in its greenhouse effects than CO2. –Environmental Protection Agency, 1996
www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/chap2.asp - Landfills are the largest human-related source of methane in the
U.S., accounting for 34 percent of all methane emissions. Methane is
generated in landfills and open dumps as waste decomposes under
anaerobic conditions. –Environmental Protection Agency, “Methane, Source and Emissions,” Last Updated June 30, 2004 (Accessed 8/05)
http://www.epa.gov/methane/sources.html
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