IN THIS SECTION

KNOW YOUR TRASH FACTS

About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 33%. (Environmental Protection Agency)

More than ½ million trees are saved each year by recycling paper in Boulder County. (Eco-Cycle)

By recycling more than 57,000 tons of steel cans, we reduce greenhouse gasses equivalent to taking more than 21,000 cars off the road each year. (WM)

Recycling glass instead of making it from silica sand reduces mining waste by 70%, water use by 50%, and air pollution by 20%. (Environmental Defense Fund)

If we recycled all of the newspapers printed in the U.S. on a typical Sunday, we would save 550,000 trees—or about 26 million trees per year. (California Department of Conservation)

The energy saved each year by steel recycling is equal to the electrical power used by 18 million homes each year—or enough energy to last Los Angeles residents for eight years. (Steel Recycling Institute)

The total volume of solid waste produced in the U.S. each year is equal to the weight of more than 5,600 Nimitz Class air craft carriers, 247,000 space shuttles, or 2.3 million Boeing 747 jumbo jets. (Beck)

An average kitchen-size bag of trash contains enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for more than 24 hours. (Covanta)

The solid waste industry currently produces more than half of America's renewable energy, more than combined energy outputs of the solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and wind power industries. (U.S. DOE, Energy Information Administration)

Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of air pollution. (Trash to Cash)

Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours. (Eco-Cycle)

Glass can be recycled an indefinite number of times and never wears out. (National Recycling Coalition)

Making glass from recycled material cuts related water pollution by 50%. (National Recycling Coalition)

If we put all of the solid waste collected in the U.S. in a line of average garbage trucks, that line of trucks could cross the country, extending from New York City to Los Angeles, more than 100 times. (Beck)

Five PET bottles (plastic soda bottles) yield enough fiber for one extra large T-shirt, one square food of carpet or enough fiber fill to fill one ski jacket. (National Recycling Coalition)

The average person has the opportunity to recycle more than 25,000 cans in a lifetime. (National Recycling Coalition)

Americans throw away enough office paper each year to build a 12-foot-high wall of paper from New York to Seattle. (National Recycling Coalition)

The average American discards seven and a half pounds of garbage every day. (National Recycling Coalition)

Once an aluminum can is recycled, it's back on the grocery shelf as another aluminum can in 60 days. (www.aluminum.org)

Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet. (www.aluminum.org)

Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume of gasoline. (www.aluminum.org)

Enough aluminum cans were recycled last year to fill a hollow Empire State Building 24 times. (www.aluminum.org)

The 62.6 billion cans recycled last year alone would make 171 circles around the earth at its equator. (www.aluminum.org)

Some 119,482 cans are recycled every minute nationwide. (www.aluminum.org)

Over the past 10 years, the number of aluminum cans recycled has doubled. (www.aluminum.org)

More than one million tons of aluminum containers and packaging are thrown away each year. (www.aluminum.org)

Recycling 1 ton of aluminum saves the equivalent in energy of 2,350 gallons of gasoline. This is equivalent to the amount of electricity used by the average home over a period of 10 years. (www.aluminum.org)

By using recycled aluminum instead of virgin ore, aluminum manufactures save enough energy needed to supply electricity to a city the size of Pittsburgh for about six years. (www.aluminum.org)

In 2006, the amount of paper recovered for recycling averaged 357 pounds for each man, woman, and child in the United States. (http://earth911.org)

Every ton of paper recycled saves more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. (http://earth911.org)

By 2012, the paper industry’s goal is to recover 55 percent of all the paper Americans consume for recycling, which is approximately 55 million tons of paper. (http://earth911.org)

More than 37 percent of the fiber used to make new paper products in the United States comes from recycled sources. (http://earth911.org)

86 percent (approximately 254 million) of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs. (http://earth911.org)

Every month, we throw out enough recyclable glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. (www.recycling-revolution.com)

The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials. (www.recycling-revolution.com)

Every year, Americans throw away enough office and writing paper to build a wall 12 feet high, stretching from Los Angeles to New York City. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

Recycling one ton of paper saves one acre of trees. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

If all the glass bottles and jars collected through recycling in the U.S. in one year were laid end-to-end, they would reach the Moon and half way back to the Earth. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

The volume of glass recycled by Americans in one year would fill New Jersey's Giants Stadium more than three times. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will light a 100-watt bulb for four hours. (www.fairfaxcounty.gov)

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Cambiar a la versión española

Where Does Garbage Go?

Click on a region of the waste-disposal diagram or the key below to see information on each step of the trash management process or download a printer-friendly PDF version (in English and in Spanish).

How does the waste collection and management process typically work? Most people don’t think about waste once it is picked up from their home. The Solid Waste industry does more than simply collect trash. We are essential partners in meeting your community’s needs for professional, innovative and environmentally-responsive management of waste materials. We are part of the solution to some of today’s most important environmental challenges: recycling millions of tons of paper, metal, plastic and other resources; creating new sources of clean, renewable energy; and building state-of-the-art landfills for increased protection of natural resources and wild life habitats.

At Your Home

At Your Home According to the U.S. EPA, the average American produces about 4.5 pounds of trash every day. That’s a lot of garbage! (250 million tons a year in the U.S.) And that’s only the waste from homes, businesses, etc. If you add in all the construction, industrial and other solid wastes produced in America each year, there are more than 500 million tons produced annually. Proper waste management and environmental stewardship is vital. There is an entire section of this site that will help you be more green with your waste.

Landfill-Gas-to-Energy

As landfill waste decomposes, it produces methane and other gases. More than 75 percent of the methane is available for use as “green” energy. The use of landfill-gas-to-energy is helping advance our national security goal of reducing reliance on foreign oil. It also is helping reduce global warming, because using landfill gas for energy involves capturing methane—a greenhouse gas. According to the EPA, America’s solid waste industry produces enough electricity and methane gas from landfill gas to light and heat nearly 1.6 million homes. Learn more about waste-based energy here.

At the Recycling Center

Recycling Center The solid waste industry collects and processes your recyclables. In fact, America’s solid waste industry built and operates the infrastructure that has enabled this recycling. According to the EPA, in 2008, Americans recycled 61 million tons of paper, cans and bottles and composted another 22 million tons of yard waste. Recycling not only reduces the waste that ends up in our landfills, it produces with other tangible benefits. For example, recycling allows us to conserve vital natural resources. It reduces air and water pollution and cuts greenhouse gas emission, which contribute to climate change. Learn more about recycling here.

Composting

Composting is a method of recycling organic waste (food) from households and commercial establishments and yard waste. More and more Americans are composting at home, and commercial composting facilities may be found in many U.S. communities. Compost promotes healthy plants and saves space in landfills. Compostable materials break down into a soil-like substance that is a good fertilizer and soil additive for planting. Compost also offers economic benefits by reducing the need for water, fertilizers and pesticides and can serve as a low cost alternative to standard landfill cover. Learn more about composting here.

Modern Landfills

Modern Landfills Despite America’s efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle waste, more than half of the garbage that Americans produce ends up in landfills. New state-of-the-art landfills are designed, sited, engineered, operated, regulated, tested and monitored in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. A modern landfill is a carefully designed and monitored structure that isolates trash from the surrounding environment (e.g., groundwater, air, rain). This isolation is accomplished with the use of a bottom liner and daily covering of soil. Landfills are not designed to break down trash, merely to bury it. Landfills are carefully filled, monitored and maintained while they are active and generally for up to 30 years after they are closed. Permitting a modern landfill generally takes about a decade, costs millions of dollars and requires rigorous siting, engineering and environmental studies and demonstrations to ensure both state and local environmental and safety concerns are satisfied. Learn more about modern landfill construction here.

Transfer Stations

Waste transfer stations are facilities where municipal solid waste is unloaded from collection vehicles and briefly held while it is reloaded onto larger long-distance transport vehicles for shipment to landfills or other treatment or disposal facilities. By combining the loads of several individual waste collection trucks into a single shipment, communities can save money on the labor and operating costs of transporting the waste to a distant disposal site. They can also reduce the total number of vehicular trips traveling to and from the disposal site. Learn more about the latest truck technologies here.

Land Reuse

Landfills in many communities have wild life habitats, natural wetlands and community facilities where school children and others can learn about environmental stewardship, waste reduction, recycling and other “green” activities. Other beneficial landfill reuse projects provide recreational areas like golf courses and bike parks to a number of communities nationwide. Even where landfills have been closed and land reuse projects have been created, the landfill operator continues to collect landfill gas these sites continue to produce, allowing for continued landfill-gas-to-energy. Learn more about landfill re-use here.

Modern Trucks

Modern Trucks There are 136,000 garbage trucks operating in the United States, and most of these are diesel powered. However, America’s solid waste industry is investing in alternative fuels such as natural gas and biodiesel. Hybrid garbage and recycling trucks conserve energy and reduce operating costs. In fact, refuse trucks have become the most rapidly growing natural gas vehicle sector in the nation. From 2002 to 2006, the number of cities using alternative fuel garbage trucks increased from 26 to 57. In addition to using less fuel and reducing costs, these new trucks generally emit less particulate matter and nitrogen oxide helping improve air quality. Learn more about the latest truck technologies here.

Waste to Energy

Waste to Energy Innovation and leadership from America’s solid waste industry makes it possible for us to use waste as a source of renewable and sustainable energy. Waste-to-energy facilities burn garbage in power plants equipped with modern pollution control equipment to clean emissions. About 10 percent of America’s garbage is disposed in these plants. According to the Integrated Waste Services Association, as of 2008, America’s solid waste industry operated 87 waste-to-energy facilities that generated more than 2,700 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1.7 million homes. Learn more about waste-based energy here.

At Manufacturing Sites

Manufacturing Sites The solid waste industry provides valuable resources and power to America’s manufacturing sector. More and more products are produced today using recycled paper, plastic, metal and glass that was collected and processed by America’s solid waste industry. And Honeywell, General Motors, BMW, Dell Computers and many other companies are using power generated from waste-based, renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save millions of dollars in annual energy costs and reduce our dependence on foreign energy. Learn more about such efforts here.

EIA is the trade association that represents the private sector solid waste and recycling industry through its two sub-associations, the National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) and the Waste Equipment Technology Association (WASTEC).