1.26 Garbage is big business.
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 2012.11
garbage
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 |