Waste Issues

"If properly designed and well managed, landfill can provide a hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of waste disposal. On the other hand, poorly designed or poorly managed landfill sites can create wind blown litter, attract vermin and allow contamination to leach into the soil. In addition as the waste breaks down methane and carbon dioxide are produced, which are greenhouse gases and can cause odor problems and kill surface vegetation." 
"Each year the UK produces 100 million tonnes of waste suitable for anaerobic digestion. Most of this, 80 to 90 million tonnes, is made up of manures and slurries, but 12 to 20 million tonnes is food waste."
http://www.earthtimes.org/encyclopaedia/environmental-issues/waste/

"Every year, the United States generates approximately 230 million tons of "trash"--about 4.6 pounds per person per day. Less than one-quarter of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills. With a little forethought, we could reuse or recycle more than 70 percent of the landfilled waste, which includes valuable materials such as glass, metal, and paper. This would reduce the demand on virgin sources of these materials and eliminate potentially severe environmental, economic, and public health problems."
http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/solidwaste.html


Municipalities generate approximately 154 million metric tons of waste each year but they are
not the only sources of solid waste in the US. The primary sources of solid waste are split
between livestock (39%), extraction and processing ore minerals (38%), crops (14%),
municipalities (5%), and industry (3%), totaling over 4 BILLION tons of solid waste each year.
The vast (> 90%) majority is linked to mining and agricultural activities.

The ~50 million metric tons of solid industrial wastes
each year are categorized by their impact on the environment, by law, into toxic, corrosive,
ignitable or otherwise hazardous material categories.


Municipal waste disposal is an
environmental problem that costs users
billions of dollars each year. The EPA
reported that the typical composition,
before recycling, includes paper, yard
wastes, food wastes, plastics, metals,
rubber, leather & textiles, wood, glass, and
other materials including disposable diapers

Muncipal Waste Stream (2007)
254 million tons before recycling
paper 32.7%
yard wastes 12.8%
food wastes 12.5%
plastics 12.1%
metals 8.2%
wood 5.6%
glass 5.3%
other 3.2%
rubber, leather & textiles 7.6%




http://people.hws.edu/halfman/Data/PublicInterestArticles/Landfills.pdf