Recycling by the Numbers: The Good, Bad and Ugly of Statistics and Comparisons
By the numbers, here is where the United States stands in its recycling effort. Not the best, not the worst.
Just making a quick assessment based on these digits — maybe the U.S. has earned a C (with a curve applied, perhaps).
Good job, Austria. Pick up the pace, Greece. And let’s all keep plugging away. The numbers may be lower than some of us would like, but they register continuing increases. Americans are recycling more than ever before; we’re on an up-swing.
251 million – tons of trash in the United States
82 million – tons of materials recycled in the United States
53.4 – percentage of all paper products recycled in the United States
32.5 – percentage of total waste that is recycled in the United States
100 – approximate percentage of increase in total recycling in the United States during the past decade
