Pounds of trash the average American generated in a day in 1960:
Pounds of trash the average American generated in a day in 2008:
Percentage of U.S. municipal solid waste that was recycled in 1960:
Percentage of U.S. municipal solid waste that was recycled in 2008:
Percent increase in the amount of waste recycled in the U.S. between 1960 and 2008:
Number of aluminum cans Americans use each year:
65 billion*
Percentage of aluminum soda cans that were recycled in the U.S. in 2008:
48.2
Percentage less energy it takes to make a can from recycled aluminum than to produce a new one from virgin materials:
90
Number of plastic bottles Americans throw away in an hour:
2.5 million
Number of years it’s estimated it will take for a plastic bottle to degrade in a landfill:
Pieces of plastic the UN Environment Program estimates float in every square mile of ocean (2006):
Number of plastic bags found in the stomach of a gray whale that beached near Seattle in April 2010:
Percentage of the world population that lives in the U.S.:
5
Percentage of the world’s timber and paper resources Americans consume:
33
Pounds of paper the average American uses every year (2002):
Pounds of paper the average South American uses every year (2002):
Pounds of paper the average African uses every year (2002):
Percentage of American paper waste that’s recycled (2008):
Click on the hyperlinks to see sources for statistics. *All other statistics were compiled by the Clean Air Council.
This is part of a series: Snapshots of America. Part one was A Snapshot of Car-Usage in America and part two was A Snapshot of Education in America.