How much trash does one person make in a year?
Each one of us made 4.6 pounds per day in 2006 – a decrease of 0.04 pounds per day from 2000. In 1960, an individual only generated 2.68 pounds per day. That 4.6 pounds per day, though, includes your share of the waste produced by America’s businesses because EPA’s per person data includes both residential and commercial waste. EPA estimates that 55-65 percent of our garbage is generated in our homes and that 35-45 percent is generated by businesses or institutions. Figure 3 graphically depicts MSW generation per capita over time. As noted above, even though the total amount of garbage produced in America will increase as the population and the economy grow, the amount produced by individual Americans can decrease. In the latter case, the use of lighter materials, such as plastics, in place of heavier metals, glass and paper and the increased use of mulching lawn mowers and backyard composting piles for yard waste causes per capita generation to decline. In fact, studies show that a ce
Each one of us made 4.6 pounds per day in 2006 – a decrease of 0.04 pounds per day from 2000. In 1960, an individual only generated 2.68 pounds per day. That 4.6 pounds per day, though, includes your share of the waste produced by America’s businesses because EPA’s per person data includes both residential and commercial waste. EPA estimates that 55-65 percent of our garbage is generated in our homes and that 35-45 percent is generated by businesses or institutions. Figure 3 graphically depicts MSW generation per capita over time. As noted above, even though the total amount of garbage produced in America will increase as the population and the economy grow, the amount produced by individual Americans can decrease. In the latter case, the use of lighter materials, such as plastics, in place of heavier metals, glass and paper and the increased use of mulching lawn mowers and backyard composting piles for yard waste causes per capita generation to decline. In fact, studies show that a ce
