It seems that no matter where we look, there is garbage all over the place. From our homes to our cars and offices, it seems that every surface possible is covered with trash. Considering that the average American will throw away about 600 times their weight in garbage during their lifetime, it may not be surprising that waste encompasses our lives.

The world of waste management is incredibly vast, and here are some fun facts about trash and how much the world actually consumes to get you inspired to start recycling!

  • On average, an infant will go through 8,000 disposable diapers by the time they are toilet trained.
  • Glass takes over 1 million years to fully decompose in a landfill.
  • Americans love their plastic bottles. On average, Americans toss 60 million water bottles into the trash every day, which is the equivalent of about 700 trashed bottles each and every minute. Unfortunately, it takes each plastic bottle about 1,000 years to decompose.
  • Food waste is also quite a problem, as Americans throw away about 28 million pounds of food waste every year. These are scraps that can be recycled and turned into food for animals, yet they are not properly disposed of.
  • Community waste management can be quite expensive — for example, most cities spend more on trash removal than on schoolbooks, fire protection, libraries, and public parks.
  • According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the nation’s waste management industry oversees a staggering 250 million tons of trash every year. For perspective, that means each American takes part in producing about four pounds of trash every single day. The majority of these items can be recycled, but many people either don’t have access to an adequate recycling system or don’t take the proper caution to dispose of the items properly.
  • So how much does all of this trash actually weigh? Novelist R.W. Beck set out to learn more about exactly the answer to that question. According to his book, Size of the United States Solid Waste Industry, the weight of all this trash is equivalent to 247 space shuttles or 2.3 million Boeing 747 jumbo jets. Not to mention, if all of this trash was put in a truck and lined up from Los Angeles to New York City, the trucks would be lined up more than 100 times.

With these facts in mind, make sure you do what you can to dispose of your trash! If you have any questions about what waste management program works best for you and your family, make sure to contact our professionals today!