Responsible Recycling Eases Strain on Landfills

Besides not using plastic throw-aways, we can reduce waste everywhere by responsible recycling. Surprisingly, landfill capacity has increased at the same time the number of landfills has drastically decreased. The EPA reports that the number of landfills in the United States has fallen 77 percent since 1988. In its 2006 MSW study, the EPA reports that while the number of U.S. landfills has steadily declined over the years, the average landfill size has increased. It goes on to report that in 2006, compared to 1990, the total volume of waste going to landfills dropped by 4 million tons, at the same time that the U.S. population increased by more than 50 million people.

During the past five decades American attitudes toward recycling and ecology radically changed. Environmental concerns also influenced landfill policies and materials recovery. The newer landfills are better controlled and protected, and considerably larger with more efficient compacting. We not only have much larger landfills and are putting less in them, we also use them more efficiently. A given amount of landfill space will hold about 30 percent more content today than in the past. The three main waste hauling companies in the U.S. say they have a long-term capacity of 26-38 years.

Bottom Line: Despite a vast population increase, nationwide landfill use is down and materials recovery is up. Our larger population is sending less to landfills. Efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle are paying off.

Some examples of the trends between 1960 and 2006 include:
• Recovery and reuse of trash has gone from 5.6 to 81.1 million tons.
• Discards going to landfills as a percentage, has gone from 93.6% to 54.9%.
• Population in the millions has gone from 179,979 to 299,398.
Source: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in
the United States: Facts and Figures for 2006, EPA, page 9

How do we contribute to making this trend even better?
• Reduce the type and numbers of disposables we use: plastic bags, bottled water, paper plates, food baggies
• Download the recycling guidelines for your community and make sure you are recycling everything they take.
• If your community doesn’t recycle something you use a lot of, like glass, then find another source for those.
• Take the time when cooking dinner or doing dishes to wash out those disposable containers and put them in the recycling bin