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Study: Twice as much trash put in landfills than estimated (w/video)

 
Published Sept. 21, 2015

Study on Americans

U.S. tosses out more trash than thought

Americans are sending more than twice as much trash to landfills as the government has estimated, according to a new study.

It turns out that on average, America tosses 5 pounds of trash per person per day into landfills, according to an analysis of figures from the same study, which is based on landfill measurements instead of government estimates.

For years, the Environmental Protection Agency relied on estimates to determine how much trash was going to landfills. But in 2010, the agency required most municipal landfills to measure and report the trash they were getting, an effort to lower heat-trapping methane emissions. Researchers at Yale University looked at the records for more than 1,200 landfills and calculated amounts, predominantly based on weights.

They figured it was 289 million tons in 2012, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. For the same year, EPA estimated the figure to be 135 million tons.

The Yale team calculated in 2013, waste sent to landfills rose to 294 million tons. With 316 million people, that's 1,871 pounds a person.

Associated Press