A Few Hard to Believe Facts

1. The average United States resident creates over 4 pounds of trash per day and up to 56 tons of trash per year. 

2. Americans make up roughly 5% of the world’s population, but generate nearly 40% of the world’s total waste. 

3.  On a daily basis, the United States produces enough trash to fill 63,000 garbage trucks.

4. If every garbage truck we filled (annually) was placed end-to-end, it would cover half the distance to the moon or ~119,450 miles.

5. Today, most communities are spending more on waste management than they are for school books, fire protection, libraries, and parks.

6. New York City residents throw out enough garbage each day to fill the entire Empire State Building.

7. Nearly one-third of the waste generated yearly in the United States is from product packaging.  Packaging represents about 65% of household trash.

8. Roughly 8,000-10,000 disposable diapers are used and thrown away before an average child is potty-trained. 

9. Disposable diapers will still be in the landfill 300 years after they were put there.

10.  Americans throw out enough plastic cutlery (disposable cups, forks, spoons, and knives) annually to wrap around the equator 300 times, or 7,470,435 miles worth.

11.  Only 4% of the world’s children live in the US, but Americans buy (and throw away) 40% of the world’s toys.

12.  Americans throw out roughly 43,000 tons of food daily.

13.  Each American throws out roughly 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that could be repurposed as compost.

14.  Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year (approximately 1.3 billion tons) is wasted.

That’s a lot of garbage. What happens when we run out of room on the planet to put trash? And what about the pollution it causes and the toxin it produces? Let’s find some solutions!