1.3 Sam and Gayatri want to use the given garbage disposal data to help decide whether people are
recycling more waste than they used to,
1970
1960
Types of Waste
1980
1990
2000
8
14
33
66
5
Recycled or Composted
31
25
Combusted (burnt)
13
34
27
87
140
Discarded (in landfills)
123
130
55
87
120
150
230
204
Total
(a) In which year(s) is the total garbage that got recycled more than the amount of garbage that got burnt?
(b) Draw a double bar graph showing the amount of waste recycled and discarded from 1960 to 2000.
(c) From your graph, find out whether people are recycling more waste than they used to
Answers
Answer:
EPA began collecting and reporting data on the generation and disposition of waste in the United States more than 35 years ago. The Agency uses this information to measure the success of materials management programs across the country and to characterize the national waste stream. These Facts and Figures are current through calendar year 2018.
The total generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2018 was 292.4 million tons (U.S. short tons, unless specified) or 4.9 pounds per person per day. Of the MSW generated, approximately 69 million tons were recycled and 25 million tons were composted. Together, almost 94 million tons of MSW were recycled and composted, equivalent to a 32.1 percent recycling and composting rate. An additional 17.7 million tons of food were managed by other methods. Other food management includes the following management pathways: animal feed, bio-based materials/biochemical processing, co-digestion/anaerobic digestion, donation, land application and sewer/wastewater treatment. For more information on food management, see Food: Material-Specific Data. In addition, nearly 35 million tons of MSW (11.8 percent) were combusted with energy recovery and more than 146 million tons of MSW (50 percent) were landfilled