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Thursday, July 4th, 2019

Waste Crisis: Americans Create 3x More Waste Than Global Average

Author:     Jordan Simmons
Source:     EcoWatch
Publication Date:     3 July 2019
 Link: Waste Crisis: Americans Create 3x More Waste Than Global Average
Stephan:   We're number one.

A large pile of plastic bottles and cans collected on a street corner in downtown Manhattan, New York. 
Credit: Epics / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

When it comes to creating waste, no one tops the U.S. And when it comes to recycling waste, well, the U.S. is one of the worst, according to a new analysis by the English risk management firm Verisk Maplecroft.

The numbers for the outsized contribution to the global waste crisis by the U.S. are staggering. The U.S. makes up only four percent of the world’s population, but produces 12 percent of the world’s global waste. By contrast, China and India make up more than 36 percent of the world’s population and produce 27 percent of global municipal solid waste, as The Guardian reported.

On average, each American produces three times as much trash as the global mean. That includes plastics and food waste. In fact, the firm estimates that each American produces […]

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