How much of our trash goes into landfills?

Solid waste is big business to the tune of about $47 billion in annual revenue. Bulldozers moving trash in a landfill. After You Throw It Away If your trash goes to a landfill it will end up sealed in the ground. It won't decompose much, if at all, because air and water can't get in. read more

You don't have to think about that waste again, either. But maybe you have wondered, as you watch the trash truck pull away, just where that garbage ends up. Americans generate trash at an astonishing rate of 4.6 pounds (2.1 kilograms) per day per person, which translates to 251 million tons (228 million metric tons) per year [source: EPA]. read more

Fifty-five percent gets buried in landfills, 33 percent gets recycled, and 12.5 percent goes to incinerators. read more

The chart comes from a recent CAP report calling for a national municipal-solid-waste portfolio standard to encourage more energy from waste (EfW), which is currently only at 7 percent of America's total municipal solid waste stream. read more