1.36 Garbage. The formal name for garbage is “municipal solid waste.” In the United States, approximately 250 million tons of garbage are generated in a year. Following is a breakdown of the materials that made up American municipal solid waste in 2012:17
| Material |
Weight (million tons) |
Percent of total |
|---|---|---|
| Food scraps | 36.4 | 14.5 |
| Glass | 11.6 | 4.6 |
| Metals | 22.4 | 8.9 |
| Paper, paperboard | 68.6 | 27.4 |
| Plastics | 31.7 | 12.7 |
| Rubber, leather | 7.5 | 3.0 |
| Textiles | 14.3 | 5.7 |
| Wood | 15.8 | 6.3 |
| Yard trimmings | 34.0 | 13.5 |
| Other | 8.5 | 3.4 |
| Total | 250.9 | 100.0 |
(a) Add the weights. The sum is not exactly equal to the value of 250.9 million tons given in the table. Why?
(b) Make a bar graph of the percents. The graph gives a clearer picture of the main contributors to garbage if you order the bars from tallest to shortest.
(c) Also make a pie chart of the percents. Comparing the two graphs, notice that it is easier to see the small differences among “Food scraps,” “Plastics,” and “Yard trimmings” in the bar graph.