Detritus/Resources/Waste statistics
Reference
A page for the number and the year it belongs to. EPA’s national municipal solid waste series is current through 2018. Later figures below are price indexes, construction spending, a state recycling report, or landfill tip fees, and each row says so.
Last checked October 26, 2026.
EPA’s national overview says the Facts and Figures are current through calendar year 2018. Municipal solid waste is the trash from homes and from commercial and institutional places. It is not construction and demolition debris, not wastewater sludge, and not industrial process waste. Tons below are US short tons.
| What was measured | 2018 figure | Data year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSW generated | 292.4 million tons, or 4.9 pounds per person per day | 2018 | EPA national overview |
| MSW generated, prior year | 268.7 million tons, or 4.5 pounds per person per day | 2017 | Same overview. EPA says the 2018 increase is mainly a change in food-waste measurement. |
| Recycled | 69.0 million tons in the trends section. The overview says more than 69 million tons. | 2018 | Same overview |
| Composted | 24.9 million tons in the trends section. The overview rounds this to 25 million tons. | 2018 | Same overview |
| Recycling and composting rate | 32.1 percent. Almost 94 million tons. | 2018 | Same overview. The rate was about 35 percent in 2017. |
| Other food management | 17.7 million tons. Animal feed, anaerobic digestion, donation, land application, sewer, and biochemical processing. | 2018. First year EPA estimated this pathway. | Same overview |
| Combusted with energy recovery | 34.6 million tons. The overview also says nearly 35 million tons, 11.8 percent. The trends section says about 12 percent. | 2018 | Same overview |
| Landfilled | About 146.1 million tons in the landfilling section, and 50 percent of generation. The trends section says 146.2 million tons. | 2018 | Same overview. This page does not choose between EPA’s two landfilled totals. |
| Per person per day, other pathways | 1.16 pounds recycled, 0.42 pounds composted, 0.30 pounds other food management | 2018 | Same overview |
Checked October 26, 2026. A search for “recycling statistics 2026” still lands on this 2018 series. EPA has not posted a later national Facts and Figures year on the overview page.
Generation was 88.1 million tons in 1960, or 2.68 pounds per person per day, and 208.3 million tons in 1990. Landfilling was 94 percent of generation in 1960 and 50 percent in 2018. The recycling and composting rate was just over 6 percent in 1960, about 35 percent in 2017, and 32.1 percent in 2018. The 2018 rate is lower because the food estimate got larger, not because fewer tons of recyclables were reported. Recycled tons in 2018 were higher than in 2015: 69 million tons, against 67.6 million tons in 2015.
The same overview says recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery, and landfilling of MSW in 2018 saved over 193 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which EPA compares with taking almost 42 million cars off the road for a year. The calculation uses WARM version 15 and the equivalency calculator updated March 2020. It leaves out an additional 24.9 million tons the model could not address, including the 17.7 million tons of food managed outside the model.
Shares are of 2018 MSW generation unless the row says otherwise. Paper is still the largest material generated. Food is the largest material landfilled.
| Material | 2018 figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Paper and paperboard, generated | 67.4 million tons, 23.1 percent of MSW. Down from 87.7 million tons in 2000. | EPA national overview |
| Paper and paperboard, recycled | 68.2 percent, 46.0 million tons. The overview’s rate table rounds the paper rate to 68 percent. | Same overview. Corrugated boxes were 32.1 million tons of the recycled total. |
| Food, generated | 63.1 million tons, 21.6 percent of MSW | Same overview |
| Food, composted | 2.6 million tons, 4.1 percent of wasted food. Tons composted were the same as in 2017. The rate fell because generation was restated. | Same overview |
| Food, other management | 17.7 million tons, 28.1 percent of wasted food | Same overview |
| Food, share of landfilled MSW | About 24 percent of what was landfilled. Largest landfilled component. | Same overview, landfilling section |
| Yard trimmings, generated | 35.4 million tons, 12.1 percent of MSW | Same overview |
| Yard trimmings, composted | 22.3 million tons, 63 percent. The rate table rounds this to 63 percent. The text also says 63 percent, down from 69.4 percent in 2017. | Same overview |
| Plastics, generated | 35.7 million tons, 12.2 percent of MSW. The rate table puts plastics recycling at 9 percent. | Same overview |
| Plastics, share of landfilled MSW | Over 18 percent of what was landfilled | Same overview, landfilling section |
| Selected consumer electronics, generated | 2.7 million tons, under 1 percent of MSW | Same overview |
Checked October 26, 2026. Where EPA’s overview rounds a figure in one section and prints a decimal in another, both are in the table.
C&D debris is not in the MSW total. EPA’s 2018 fact sheet, Table 6, puts generation at 600.3 million tons: 33.0 million tons from construction and 567.3 million tons from demolition. The fact sheet describes that split as under 10 percent construction and over 90 percent demolition. Concrete was 405.2 million tons, 67.5 percent of generation. Asphalt concrete was 107.0 million tons, 17.8 percent. Wood products were 40.8 million tons, 6.8 percent. The same fact sheet says the other products were 7.9 percent combined.
| Material, 2018 | Construction | Demolition | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concrete | 24.2 | 381.0 | 405.2 |
| Wood products | 3.4 | 37.4 | 40.8 |
| Drywall and plasters | 3.9 | 11.3 | 15.2 |
| Steel | 0 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| Brick and clay tile | 0.3 | 12.0 | 12.3 |
| Asphalt shingles | 1.2 | 13.9 | 15.1 |
| Asphalt concrete | 0 | 107.0 | 107.0 |
| Total | 33.0 | 567.3 | 600.3 |
Million tons. EPA, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2018 Fact Sheet, Table 6. Checked October 26, 2026. The C&D material page prints 2018 generation as 600,330 thousand tons, the same 600.3 million tons.
Table 8 of the fact sheet is where those tons went. About 143.8 million tons were landfilled. About 456.6 million tons went to a next use: 313.1 million tons of aggregate, 131.6 million tons into manufactured products, 7.5 million tons of fuel, 2.5 million tons of compost and mulch, and 1.9 million tons of soil amendment. The fact sheet says landfill was 24 percent of C&D debris and aggregate was 52 percent. Next use is an intended market. It is not a measured diversion rate on a job.
How a project counts diversion, and what LEED scores, is on the construction waste management plan page. That page uses the same 2018 generation total. Census construction spending, further down, is a later activity series. It is not a revision of these tons.
EPA and USDA set a goal on September 16, 2015 to cut US food loss and waste in half by 2030. The measurement page, checked October 26, 2026, uses a 2016 baseline that was restated in September 2021 to line up with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. Food waste in that baseline is food from retail, food service, and households that left the human supply chain into six pathways: landfill, controlled combustion, sewer, anaerobic digestion, compost, and land application.
| Year | Food waste per person |
|---|---|
| 2016, baseline | 328 pounds |
| 2018 | 335 pounds |
| 2019, latest year on the page | 349 pounds |
| 2030 goal | 164 pounds, half of the 2016 baseline |
EPA, United States 2030 Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal. The page says per capita food waste rose 6 percent from 2016 to 2019. It also says 30 to 40 percent of the US food supply is never eaten, and that food waste is the single most common material landfilled and incinerated. EPA and USDA do not have a baseline for food loss before retail. Checked October 26, 2026.
The 328-pound series is not the same statistic as the 63.1 million tons of food in the 2018 Facts and Figures. One is pounds per person leaving the supply chain into six pathways. The other is tons generated in the municipal waste account. This page does not convert one into the other.
These counts do not agree, because they do not count the same thing.
| Statement | Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSW landfilled in the Facts and Figures | About 146.1 million tons in the landfilling section. 146.2 million tons in the trends section. | 2018 | EPA national overview |
| Active MSW landfills, and waste received | An estimated 1,274 active MSW landfills, receiving 339 million megagrams (373 million tons) a year | 2021 estimate, in the May 2025 final | EPA AP-42, section 2.4. Footnote 6 points to the LMOP database. |
| LMOP database coverage | More than 2,600 MSW landfills, open or closed in recent decades. Not exhaustive. As of September 2024, 488 landfills supplied 542 operating landfill-gas energy projects, and EPA estimated 444 more candidate landfills. | Page checked October 26, 2026. Project counts as of September 2024. | LMOP database |
| A national landfill list | EPA says it does not maintain one, and cannot give a definitive count | Page checked October 26, 2026 | EPA landfill FAQ |
The 373 million tons are waste those landfills were estimated to receive. AP-42 does not say that figure is the 146 million tons of MSW in the 2018 Facts and Figures. The years differ. This page does not reconcile them. C&D landfill tons are in the table above and are a third series.
Minnesota’s 2024 SCORE report is a state accounting system, not a revision of EPA’s national rate. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says the 2024 combined recycling rate was 44.7 percent, a 0.7 percent decrease from 2023, and that municipal solid waste tonnage increased by 1 percent. Counties reported 43,219 tons of reuse. The agency says Minnesota saved about the equivalent of 4.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide due to waste management practices, roughly the annual emissions of 962,000 passenger vehicles. Do not set 44.7 percent next to EPA’s 32.1 percent and call the difference progress. The definitions and the years are different.
MPCA, Understanding solid waste, 2024 SCORE key findings. The same four sentences are on the Internet Archive capture of that page from September 4, 2026. Checked October 26, 2026.
Two BLS indexes describe the direction of collection prices. They are not a wage, a diesel price, or a price for a container. The Producer Price Index for solid waste collection, series PCU562111562111, not seasonally adjusted, December 2003 = 100, was 204.783 in September 2025 and 214.200 in September 2026. The September 2026 index is preliminary. It is 4.6 percent above September 2025. BLS says PPI values can be revised for up to four months after publication. The Consumer Price Index for garbage and trash collection, series CUUR0000SEHG02, not seasonally adjusted, December 1983 = 100, was 652.831 in September 2025 and 686.972 in September 2026, which is 5.2 percent higher. The BLS series pages label the extract October 26, 2026. This page checked them on October 26, 2026.
PPI PCU562111562111. CPI CUUR0000SEHG02. The same readings are on the commercial dumpster cost guide. An index reading is not a container price.
Census construction spending is the activity series next to C&D debris. It is dollars put in place, not tons. The October 1, 2026 release, CB26-158, estimates August 2026 total construction spending at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,203.1 billion. That is 1.7 percent (±1.5 percent) below the August 2025 estimate of $2,242.0 billion. The first eight months of 2026 were $1,450.4 billion, 3.1 percent (±1.0 percent) below $1,496.6 billion in the same period of 2025. Private construction was $1,655.3 billion, of which residential was $882.3 billion and nonresidential was $773.0 billion, all seasonally adjusted annual rates for August 2026. The release also says August was 0.9 percent (±1.0 percent) above the revised July estimate. That month-to-month change sits inside the published margin, so this page does not call it an increase. September 2026 had not been released on October 26, 2026.
Census, Monthly Construction Spending, August 2026, released October 1, 2026. Checked October 26, 2026.
EREF posted a summary of its 2023 analysis of MSW landfill tipping fees on May 31, 2024. The study uses tipping-fee data from 342 facilities. The unweighted national average was $56.80 per ton, down from $58.47 in 2022. The ton-weighted average was $57.63 per ton. Regional averages on that page run from $43.18 per ton in the Southeast to $84.44 per ton in the Northeast. The summary does not say whether each regional figure is unweighted or ton-weighted. A national average is not a gate rate, and it is not what a given site will pay.
These figures are examples from the public sources listed, as of the date shown. They are not a Detritus quote, offer, or price guarantee; only a written Detritus quote is binding.
The six regional figures, the state fee rows, and the way a tip fee reaches a hauling invoice are on landfill tipping fees. Published city container rates that sit on top of disposal are on commercial dumpster cost. This page does not reprint the paid EREF per-landfill list.
Send the address, the container, and the service. Pricing is quoted for that location. The tables on this page are public statistics with a year on each one.
EPA's national Facts and Figures, current through calendar year 2018, report a recycling and composting rate of 32.1 percent. That is almost 94 million tons recycled and composted out of 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste generated. The same pages report 69.0 million tons recycled and 24.9 million tons composted in the trends section, and they round composting to 25 million tons in the overview. This is not a 2025 or 2026 rate. EPA says the series is current through 2018.
EPA reports 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste generated in 2018, or 4.9 pounds per person per day. That is the latest year in the national Facts and Figures series. Generation was 268.7 million tons in 2017. EPA says most of the 2017-to-2018 increase comes from a change in how wasted food is counted, not from a measured surge in ordinary trash.
EPA's 2018 fact sheet reports 600.3 million tons of construction and demolition debris, separate from municipal solid waste. Demolition was 567.3 million tons and construction was 33.0 million tons. About 143.8 million tons were sent to landfills, and about 456.6 million tons were directed to a next use. Those are 2018 figures.
EPA's landfill FAQ says the agency does not keep a definitive national list. AP-42 section 2.4, final May 2025, estimates 1,274 active municipal solid waste landfills in 2021, receiving 373 million tons of waste a year, and points to the LMOP database. The LMOP page describes more than 2,600 municipal solid waste landfills that are open or closed in recent decades, and says the database is not exhaustive. Those are different counts. Neither figure is the about 146.1 million tons, or the 146.2 million tons, of municipal solid waste landfilled in the 2018 Facts and Figures.
No. Generation and recycling figures are national material flows. The price indexes describe the direction of collection prices, not a container rate. Landfill tip fees are on the tipping-fee page, and published local container rates are on the commercial dumpster cost guide. None of them is a Detritus quote.
A later check that finds the same figures updates this change log and the Last checked line. It does not change the published date in the page schema unless a figure or a sentence changed. Each table row carries its own data year. This page does not use Detritus quote or invoice data.