How+Much+Garbage+Do+We+Produce?

How Much Garbage Do We Produce?

670,000 tons in America per day. New York City alone throws out enough garbage each day to fill the Empire State Building.

Each one of us made 4.54 pounds per day in 2005 More than 50 percent of America's aluminum is being recycled, yet, more than one million tons of aluminum containers and packaging (such as beverage cans, T.V. dinner trays, aluminum foil) are thrown away each year.  In the US alone, over **18 billion** diapers are thrown away each year. Each one of these diapers takes 300 years to fully biodegrade! That means that not one diaper has ever naturally biodegraded yet. http://garbiker.bizkaia.net/Img/Paginas/Pag_336/vertejata.jpg


 * Americans throw away about 40 billion soft drink cans and bottles every year. Placed end to end, they would reach to the moon and back nearly 20 times.**


 * The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.**


 * Americans throw away 25 billion Styrofoam coffee cups every year, and 2.5 million plastic beverage bottles every hour.**


 * Eighty-four percent of a typical household’s waste — including food scraps, yard waste, paper, cardboard, cans, and bottles — can be recycled.**


 * Using recycled paper for one print run of the Sunday edition of The New York Times would save 75,000 trees.**


 * Each year, the typical American family throws out 2,460 pounds of paper, 540 pounds of metals, 480 pounds of glass and 480 pounds of food scraps.**

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), aluminum cans represent less than 1% of the nation's solid waste stream.

About 70% of all metal is used just once and discarded. The remaining 30% is recycled. After 5 cycles, one-fourth of 1% of the metal remains in circulation.

In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. If you add it up, this means that a 150 pound adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 pounds of trash for his or her children.

The top ten wasteful cities are:
 * 1) New York City
 * 2) Pittsburg
 * 3) Dallas
 * 4) Detroit
 * 5) Los Angeles
 * 6) Las Vegas
 * 7) Chicago
 * 8) Washington
 * 9) San Diego
 * 10) Atlanta