Recycling Facts
Some facts collected from various sources including the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
We waste too much… The United States leads the industrialized world in producing 4.5 lbs of waste per person per day. Compare that with Germany and Sweden which each generate just under 2 lbs per person per day. In 1960, we produced 2.7 lbs per person per day.
…but we also recycle a lot. Happily, the United States also recycles 24% of its waste, a rate that leads the industrialized world, just ahead of Japan at 23%.
Most commonly recycled materials:
Newspapers: 88.9 percent
Corrugated Cardboard Boxes: 71.5 percent
Steel Cans: 62.9 percent
Yard Trimmings: 56.3 percent
Aluminum Beer and Soft Drink Cans: 44.8 percent
Scrap Tires: 35.6 percent
Magazines: 38.5 percent
Plastic Soft Drink Bottles: 34.1 percent
Plastic HDPE Milk and Water Bottles: 28.8 percent
Glass Containers: 25.3 percent
Recycling, including composting, diverted 79 million tons of material away from disposal in 2005, up from 15 million tons in 1980, when the recycle rate was just 10% and 90% of MSW was being combusted with energy recovery or disposed of by landfilling.
Landfills. The number of landfills in the United States is steadily decreasing—from 8,000 in 1988 to 1,654 in 2005. Because new landfills are much larger, the capacity has remained relatively constant.
For more waste and recycling related information, download and read the EPA's latest report on the national waste stream Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2005 Facts and Figures (Adobe Acrobat format, 2.5 Mb)
