Landfill Recycling Facts

Items thrown into the garbage wind up in landfills. The Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for finding, encouraging and enforcing eco-friendly activities that assist in the reduction of waste, which ends up producing greenhouse gasses. Recycling is one such solution for reducing the amount of trash that occupies landfills.

Waste

• Americans generated roughly 250 million tons of municipal solid waste in 2008, according to a 2008 report by the EPA. Of the 250 million tons, 83 million tons were recycled and composted, equaling a 33.2 percent recycling rate in 2008.

Recovery

• Many people throw away items that they do not realize are recyclable, which ends up clogging landfills. In 2008, the EPA recovered 4.3 million tons of recyclable office-type paper in landfills. Recovery efforts help keep landfills clear of recyclable items.

Good News

• The EPA reports that Americans recycled more than 7 million tons of metals in 2008, which led to the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is the same as removing more than 4.5 million cars from the road for a single year.