Americans Recycling More, Discarding Less, EPA Says

U.S. Recycling Trends are Showing Dramatic Increases

By Larry West, About.com Guide
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Americans are recycling more and discarding less, according to a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that shows the United States recycled 32 percent of its waste in 2005.

Including composting, Americans recycled 79 million tons of waste in 2005— a two percent increase over 2004 and a big jump from the 16 percent of waste Americans recycled in 1990 and the 10 percent of waste Americans recycled in 1980.

Americans also generated less municipal solid waste in 2005, a little under 246 million tons, a decrease of nearly 2 million tons from 2004.

More Recycling, Less Waste Per Person

Those figures break down to about 4.5 pounds of individual waste per person per day—a decrease of 1.5 percent from 2004—and nearly 1.5 pounds of recycled waste per person per day.

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson shared details of the report titled, Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2005 Facts and Figures [PDF], during his speech at the National Recycling Coalition Conference in Atlanta in October 2006.

Report Highlights
Other data in the report show many recycling trends are up while waste generation is decreasing:

Container and packaging recycling increased to 40 percent;
Nearly 62 percent of yard waste was composted;
About 42 million tons of paper were recycled—a 50 percent recycling rate; and
The number of U.S. landfills have been decreasing steadily—from 8,000 in 1988 to 1,654 in 2005—but the capacity has remained relatively constant because new landfills are much larger.

The EPA has been collecting and reporting on the generation and disposal of waste in the United States since 1960. The information is used to measure the success of municipal solid waste reduction and recycling programs nationwide, and to show where the nation needs to make improvements in municipal waste management.