By now you might be wondering if I'll continue blogging Earth Day things until April 22nd, Earth Day - yes. It's sort of like Lent for me... I'm thinking about what I'm doing, what should I be doing, and sharing with others. I'll return to my other content soon, I promise.
Side bar: Lately I've been getting some kudos for writing these eco blogs but also a few have asked, what does any of this have to do with real estate? Good question. First, as a homeowner we have more control over our environment than we do in an apartment, rental house, or the work place. We make choices everyday. Second, a very basic real estate question - Is there enough landfill space? What impact does it have on our health?
Yesterday I wrote Make Your Earth Day Resolutions which required a little research on recycling facts. I came across this nice site, Greenliving.lovetoknow.com that answered my question nicely and then some. My blog wasn't about recycling facts so I reserved the rest for today's blog.
The EPA gives mixed news about total household MSW. The agency reports that while America is experiencing sustained improvements in waste reduction, the overall bulk of the nation's MSW continues to rise. From 1980 to 2005, the amount of (Mass Solid Waste)generated increased 60 percent! Luckily, since 2005, there have been small decreases in total and per capita MSW. From 2007 to 2009,the total MSW decreased from 255 million tons to 243 million tons. That's still a lot of trash, but it's evident that waste production is on a downward trend.
Current United States Recycling Statistics
The EPA and other recycling websites often use the term "recovery" when discussing recycling to describe the recycling process, when recovering goods that would otherwise be included in waste. While statistics for recycling are collected regularly, it often takes time for the most current numbers to be processed and assimilated for public consumption. This means that many of the numbers on recycling websites can be as much as several years old.
The last time the EPA reported the national recycling figures was in 2009 for 243 million tons of trash generated:
- 82 million tons composted or recycled for recovery rate of 33.8 percent
- 29 million tons of MSW combusted for energy recovery
- 74 percent of office-type paper recovered
- 60 percent of yard trimmings recovered
- 34.5 percent of metals recycled
- 7 million tons of metals recycled reduced greenhouse gas emissions at equivalent of removing 5 million cars from road for one year
- Approximately 9,000 community curbside recycling programs exist in United States, increase over reported 2002 figure of 8,875
- Approximately 3,000 community composting programs exist - decrease from reported 2002 figure of 3,227 programs
- Current amount of MSW per-person discarded in landfills lower than 1960
- Due to population growth, current total amount discarded MSW in landfills significantly higher than in 1960, yet lower than 1990
Related Topics
Comments(15)