Question by twinkletoes: How much material does the average person recycle per year?
I’m debating recycling for a class and can’t find much data on how much material is recycled on average by one or any number of people. 🙂 I want to find some stats to apply to a group of 28,000 people in the city I’m discussing to say that they could potentially recycle such&such amount of material if they all participated in a recycling program. Are there any good sites or do you know of any figures that would help? Thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by whsgreenmom
That question is nearly impossible to answer. Where you live has a dramatic impact on how much you recycle. In CA for example, most counties have at minimum a 50% diversion rate. In AZ it is less than 10%. If I had to take a stab in the dark, knowing few states have successful recycling programs I would say less than 25% of our waste is recycled. The average american produces 4.5 #’s of garbage a day. So, maybe 1 # per day average, but even that is likely generous.

I can tell you in my community we have what I like to call a mandatory recycling program. Instead of curbside recycling we have a Material Recovery Facility. We use a variety of mechanical and manual methods of sorting the trash that is picked up at homes and businesses. We divert 68% of what goes to the MRF to be recycled.

What do you think? Answer below!