The average American produces about 4.4 pounds of garbage a day. That’s 29 pounds per week or 1,600 pounds a year.  And these estimates are only the waste we produce in our households — it doesn’t even include the much greater amount of waste produced by industries and businesses each day. That’s a lot of waste, which means there’s a lot of room for doing things better.

 

In 2011, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and composted almost 87 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.7 percent recycling rate. On average, we recycled and composted 1.53 pounds of our individual waste generation of 4.40 pounds per person per day (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2013, Municipal Solid Waste). 

 

*The average Texan produces 7 pounds of garbage per day!

 

Benefits of Recycling

 

• Saves money.

 

• Improves efficiency.

 

• Reduces energy use.

 

• Reduces fuel use.

 

• Saves landfill space.

 

• Improves air quality.

 

• Improves water quality.

 

• Reduces the rate of global warming

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How recycling helps protect our health:

 

Harm to the Environment Equals Harm to Your Health!

Many of the chemicals released by landfills and incinerators are linked to health impacts ranging from asthma to cancer.  So reducing waste also reduces these health threats to our communities and our families

 

How recycling saves you money:

 

Remember, we paid good money for all the stuff that we then turned around and threw away--often only using it a few minutes.  Reusing and repairing stuff, instead of throwing it away, helps our household budget stretch further.

 

How recycling protects the environmnet:

 

Household waste in the U.S. is comprised of everything from food scraps, paper, plastic, and metal, to the hazordous chemicals in oven cleaners and garden pesticides.  When these are burried in a landfill, or even worse, burned in an incinerator, it not only wastes valuable resources, but also pollutes our air and water, and even contributes to climate change.

 

The Ft. Stockton Landfill is Almost Full!

 

According to City Manager, Raul Rodriguez, the local landfill is almost full.  Once it is full, waste removal prices will go up for everyone in the city, because either Ft. Stockton will have to haul the trash to Odessa (in which case, the city would have to purchase new trucks and equipment), or the city will have to purchase more land--both very costly endeavors that would take a toll on everyone's checkbook.