Not-So-Fun Facts About Landfills

1)The first real recycling program was introduced in New York City in the 1890s. The city's first recycling plant was built in 1898.
2)About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material.
3)The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world's people generate 40% of the world's waste.
4)Roughly 90% of landfill contents are recyclable.
5)Out of ever $10 spent buying things, $1 (10%) goes for packaging that is thrown away. Packaging represents about 65% of household trash.
6)On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it.
7)Americans generate and throw away 9 times as much waste as does a person in Africa or Central America, but we also generate two to three times the amount of waste as people living in industrial countries with a comparable or better standard of living as us.

~The Green Freak