Municipal Solid Waste

municipal solid waste (MSW)

stuff we throw away in garbage cans & dumpsters

• 3 categories

3 categories of municipal solid waste

1. durable goods

2. nondurable goods

3. containers and packaging

durable goods

products with a lifetime of 3 or more years

• ex. appliances, furniture, tires, carpet, electronic, sporting goods

nondurable goods

products with a lifetime of less than 3 years

• ex. paper, paperboard, paper/plastic plates, dispsable diapers, clothing, shoes

containers & packaging

products assumed to be discarded the same year as the products they contain are purchased

• ex. food & bev containers, medication & ealth product containers, etc.

the waste materials in municipal solid waste last __________ than the produts were used

much longer

in 2018, the US generated ______ million tons of MSW

292

how much MSW was generated per person in the US in 2018?

1 ton per person

4.9 pounds per day

the 1980s saw an increase in trash per person as ____________ became mainstream

disposables

disposables

single use materials

• advantage: convenient

starting in the 1990s, how did we start trying to decrease the amount of MSW?

1. recycling

2. composting

3. combusting waste for energy

has the amount of MSW going into landfills changed?

no- other MSW has increased, but amount going into landfill has not changed

2nd kind of waste besides MSW

construction and demolition (C & D) debris generation

in 2018, ______ million tons of C & D debris were generated

600

94.5% of C & D debris was from ____________ and the rest was from __________

demolition / construction

what percent of C & D went into landfills

24%

global MSW waste in 2020 in millions tons (excluding C & D)

2020

• 2.02 billion

US makes approximately ____ of the world’s MSW

15%

in the US in 2018, plastics were ____% of all MSW

12.2

overall, _______ million tons of plastic waste was generated in the US in 2018

35.68

what happens to the 35.68 million tons of plastic waste generated?

• 8.7% was recycled

• 15.8% was combusted for energy

• 75.5% was landfilled

in 2018, plastic was ______% of all landfilled MSW

18.5

why has landfilling stayed relatively constant since the 1990s?

increased paper recycling but also increased plastic production

plastic containers & packaging are better to recycle than _____________ because they’re more likely to be one type of polymer

durable/nondurable goods

worldwide, recycling of plastic is roughly ____%

10