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Facts and Figures about Materials, Waste and Recycling

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NOTE:
The facts and figures data only represent municipal solid waste in the United States. The most recent data are from 2018.

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Facts and Figures about Materials, Waste and Recycling

The Facts and Figures data looks at generation, recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery, and landfilling for a variety of materials and products. Check out our A to Z Directory  for terms and keywords for which our web visitors frequently search.

This is a picture of a graph on total MSW generation by material in 2017, showing how many tons of municipal solid waste were generated in 2017 (before recycling, composting, or combustion with energy recovery).

This is a picture of a person holding a pen in their right hand, preparing to mark up a piece of paper that shows a pie chart and a bar chart in purple and shades of blue. The paper is on a clipboard and is next to a keyboard.

This is a picture of different colored glass and plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass products, and paper and paperboard products. In the foreground are the words "Common Materials and Products."

Resources for Researchers

In 2018 the US generated 292.4 millions tons of trash and 146.2 million tons eneded up in landfills Learn what happens to materials thrown away in the United States in our Together, We Can Make a Difference infographic.

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