It’s been said that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.  But the sad fact is that most Americans generate an alarming amount of trash that has buried the treasure of un-sustained natural resources under acres of sprawling landfill.

According to a 2001 Environment Agency report, 80% of post-consumer plastic waste is sent to landfill, 8% is incinerated and only 7% is recycled.

Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours;  a single plastic cup may take up to 250 years to decompose.

Approximately one-third of our waste is generated by businesses.

photo-City of College Station, Texas

Each person in the US throws away about 4.5 pounds of trash per day, most of which goes to solid waste landfills

Sources:
http://www.recyclenow.com/facts/recycling_stats/stats_and_facts.html
http://www.informinc.org/fact_office.php
http://www.cstx.gov/home/index.asp?page=91
http://www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/solwaste/cwrc/edpro2.html