Today, the average American throws out about 1, pounds of garbage each year. Americans generated about million tons of trash last year, according to U.
EPA estimates. The environmental problems caused by landfills are numerous. Due to massive global scale, some say the scope of our global trash crisis could exceed the challenges we currently face with climate change. Our landfill problems not only can be compared to climate change, but they also contribute to it. As organic material such as food scraps break down in a landfill, they eventually release methane into the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Toxic waste that leaches from landfills into our soil and groundwater are extremely harmful to human, animal and plant life. The protective barriers and stricter standards of modern landfills only delay the inevitable. Aside from industrial and household chemicals, growing amounts of electronic waste containing lead, cadmium, and mercury are serious threats to water quality issues.
The EPA reports that in , of the 2. Adequate waste disposal or treatment, such as controlled landfills or more stringently operated facilities, is almost exclusively the domain of high- and upper-middle-income countries. Lower-income countries generally rely on open dumping; 93 percent of waste is dumped in low-income countries and only 2 percent in high-income countries.
Upper-middle-income countries have the highest percentage of waste in landfills, at 54 percent. This rate decreases in high-income countries to 39 percent, with diversion of 36 percent of waste to recycling and composting and 22 percent to incineration. Incineration is used primarily in high-capacity, high-income, and land-constrained countries. Based on the volume of waste generated, its composition, and how it is managed, it is estimated that 1.
This is driven primarily by disposing of waste in open dumps and landfills without landfill gas collection systems. Solid waste—related emissions are anticipated to increase to 2. In most countries, solid waste management operations are typically a local responsibility, and nearly 70 percent of countries have established institutions with responsibility for policy development and regulatory oversight in the waste sector. About two-thirds of countries have created targeted legislation and regulations for solid waste management, though enforcement varies drastically.
Direct central government involvement in waste service provision, other than regulatory oversight or fiscal transfers, is uncommon, with about 70 percent of waste services being overseen directly by local public entities. At least half of services, from primary waste collection through treatment and disposal, are operated by public entities and about one-third involve a public-private partnership.
However, successful partnerships with the private sector for financing and operations tend to succeed only under certain conditions with appropriate incentive structures and enforcement mechanisms, and therefore they are not always the ideal solution. Financing solid waste management systems is a significant challenge, even more so for ongoing operational costs than for capital investments, and operational costs need to be taken into account upfront.
Cost recovery for waste services differs drastically across income levels. User fee models may be fixed or variable based on the type of user being billed. The generation of office-type high grade papers also has been in decline, due at least partially to activities such as the increased use of the electronic transmission of reports.
Paper and paperboard products have ranged between Food waste comprised the fourth largest material category, estimated at Yard trimmings comprised the next largest material category, estimated at This compares to 35 million tons The decline in yard trimmings generation since is largely due to state legislation discouraging yard trimmings disposal in landfills, including source reduction measures such as backyard composting and leaving grass trimmings on the yard. In , plastic products generation was This was an increase of 4.
Plastics generation has grown from 8. Plastics generation as a percent of total generation has varied from In , 2. The total MSW recycled was more than 69 million tons, with paper and paperboard accounting for approximately 67 percent of that amount. Metals comprised about 13 percent, while glass, plastic and wood made up between 4 and 5 percent. Measured by tonnage, the most-recycled products and materials in were corrugated boxes Collectively, these products accounted for 90 percent of total MSW recycling in Check out our Reduce, Reuse, Recycle web area for more information on recycling.
The total MSW composted was 25 million tons. This included approximately Other methods of food management were estimated for the first time in In , Food made up the largest component of MSW combusted at approximately 22 percent. Rubber, leather and textiles accounted for over 16 percent of MSW combustion. Plastics comprised about 16 percent, and paper and paperboard made up about 12 percent. The other materials accounted for less than 10 percent each.
Check out our Municipal Solid Waste Landfills page for more information, and visit our Landfills web area for information on other landfills.
In , about Food was the largest component at about 24 percent. Plastics accounted for over 18 percent, paper and paperboard made up about 12 percent, and rubber, leather and textiles comprised over 11 percent. Other materials accounted for less than 10 percent each. In , the amount of MSW generated was The amount of MSW recycled was About
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