We are producing gigantic amounts of waste. Total waste in the world is enormous. Some of it is recycled but a lot is simply dumped, causing problems for people and the environment.

Every year we dump a massive 2.12 billion tons of waste. If all this waste was put on trucks they would go around the world 24 times.

Ninety-five percent of our solid waste is disposed of in almost-filled landfills - and one out of every two of those landfills desperately needs repair so it won't leak. (National Urban League)

http://www.waste-management-world.com/index.html

Recycling one aluminum can saves an amount of energy equivalent to half that can filled with gasoline.
Every Sunday, more than 500,000 trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled.

North Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

Every year some 45,000 tons of plastic waste are dumped into the world's oceans. One of the results of this is that up to one million seabirds and one hundred thousand marine mammals are killed each year by plastic trash such as fishing gear, six-pack yokes, sandwich bags, and styrofoam cups.

THE PROBLEMS WITH WASTE

Packaging accounts for 50 percent of all paper produced in North America, 90 percent of all glass, and eleven percent of aluminum.

The United States generates approximately 208 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) a year. That's 4.3 pounds per person per day.

In a lifetime, an average American will generate garbage 600 times of his/her adult weight
An average baby generates a ton of garbage every year.

One of every six trucks in the U.S. is a garbage truck.

Americans throw more than 21 million shopping bags full of food to the landfills every year.

10% of rich countries’ greenhouse gas emissions come from growing food that is never eaten.

If we planted trees on land currently used to grow unnecessary surplus and wasted food, this would offset a theoretical maximum of 100% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Every year, each American dumps about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.

What is waste and why is it a problem?