Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) also called trash, refuse or garbage.

The following are from the Environmental Protection Agency's Facts and Figures for 2006

• Americans generated approximately 251 million tons of trash and recycled 82 million tons of material or 32.5%
• Recovered 61 million tons through recycling (excluding composting) - an increase of 2.4 million tons over 2005
• Composting recovered almost 21 million tons of waste
• Items recovered had the following recovery percentage:
  Paper and paperboard - 50% (44 million tons)
  Metals (mixed) - 36%
  Yard trimmings (green waste) - 62%
• By recycling nearly 7 million tons of metals (including aluminum, steel and mixed metals), we eliminated greenhouse gas emissions totaling close to 6.5 million metric tons of carbon equivalent.  This is equivalent to removing more than 5 million cars from the road for one year.  (Taken From EPA's Waste Reduction Model)
• More than 31 million tons (12.5%) of materials were combusted with energy recovery
• About 138 million tons (55%) were discarded in landfills
  
  

  Recycling 82 million tons of MSW saved the energy equivalent of more than 10 billion gallons of gas.

Through the combined efforts of individuals, communities, organizations, business and government involvement the amounts recovered and reused continue to improve.

The three ‘R’s: EPA: Recycling Information

Reduce: Source Reduction (waste prevention) is the practice of designing, manufacturing, purchasing, or using materials that are less toxic reducing the amount or toxicity in trash created as well as reusable (delaying their entry to the waste stream). This also applies to the production process by conserving resources and reducing pollution.

Reuse: Reusing items delays their entry to the waste or recycling streams, reducing the resources required to process them.

Recycle: Recycling removes items from the waste stream bound for disposal sites. This practice saves valuable resources (reusing raw materials) and improves the environment (not burying or burning hazardous materials).

Recycling solutions vary: Central location drop off sites, recycling centers, and recovery programs of municipal and private waste collection companies.

Collection programs vary in different areas and may involve various curbside separation and/or material recovery facilities.

The curbside recycling programs require the customer to clean and separate accepted recyclable materials in either individual containers or a single recycling container (commingled). It is further separated and prepared for transport at a recovery facility. The advantage of this style of recovery is the percentage recovered and the cleanliness of the materials. However, this style of recovery usually involves doing the same route up to three times to collect all types of materials (i.e. MSW, recyclables and green waste). This increases the overall cost of collection as well as greenhouse gas emissions.

The Material Recovery Facility separates recyclables as the stream(s) are processed. MSW, along with recyclables collected via other programs, are prepared for transport to use facilities.  MRF facilities also separate biodegradable materials from the waste stream for use as mulch and fertilizer.  Finally, what is left is transported to landfills or incinerator generation facilities. While the initial cost of high-tech facilities is high, recovery can be maximized as the entire waste stream is exposed to the recovery process while not increasing long-term cost to the company, customer or adding significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

For more information visit:

• Our Materials Recovery Facility pages for company-specific recovery information.
•  Links