Thought this was interesting

[Vici]

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-garbage-does-a-person-create-in-one-year.htm


According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces about 4.4 pounds (2 kg) of garbage a day, or a total of 29 pounds (13 kg) per week and 1,600 pounds (726 kg) a year. This only takes into consideration the average household member and does not count industrial waste or commercial trash. If this sounds like a staggering number, you would be surprised to know that Americans are not the number one producers of garbage in the world. In Mexico, the average household produces 30 percent more garbage than in America.

I'm doing a project on how to make garbage collection more efficient and ran across this little tidbit while researching online.

[cantthinkofanything]

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-garbage-does-a-person-create-in-one-year.htm



I'm doing a project on how to make garbage collection more efficient and ran across this little tidbit while researching online.

I don't believe that number.

[cantthinkofanything]

I don't believe that number. 4.4 pounds.

[Vici]

Ya I thought that was nuts. I sure as hell don't produce that much but then again I'm not as much of a slob as most.

[The Principal]

Ya I thought that was nuts. I sure as hell don't produce that much but then again I'm not as much of a slob as most.

They must have been including reccyleables.

[Wild Cobra]

Maybe a week, but a day?

No fucking way.

[MannyIsGod]

Those numbers sound about right. Consumption in this nation is pretty god damn high and you may not personally fill a bag with that much garbage throughout the day but the nation as a whole does. You visit businesses which generate trash throughout the day and you use government and public services that do so as well. It all adds up.

[MannyIsGod]

However, I call bullshit that Mexico is more and if it IS more by household then thats because household sizes in Mexico are larger than in the United States. There is no way its higher per capita.

[MannyIsGod]

The EPA says that we produce 243 million tons of solid waste a year in the United States.

243 million / 300 million people = .81 tons of garbage per person per year. A ton is 2000 lbs so that's 1620 llbs per year per person. Divide that by 365 and you get 4.4 lbs per day per person.

[MannyIsGod]

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/env_pol_mun_was_per_cap-pollution-municipal-waste-per-capita

Per capita figures on that page are pretty close to what I had. They are in Kg so you have to multiply by about 2.2 in order to get the lbs equivilant. Mexico is about half of the US so in order to be 30% above household size would need to be about 3 times the size of the US. I guess thats possible but I think its unlikely.

[leemajors]

Those numbers sound about right. Consumption in this nation is pretty god damn high and you may not personally fill a bag with that much garbage throughout the day but the nation as a whole does. You visit businesses which generate trash throughout the day and you use government and public services that do so as well. It all adds up.

Yup.

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah did some searching on household size. Avg in Mexico is 3.9 while in the US its 2.6 so I have no idea how that link you put came up with their stat but it would look to be incredibly off.

Mexico produces 43% of the garbage the US does so in order to be 30% above per household they would definitely need to have households 3x the size of the United States.

130/43 = 3.02

They're not even 2 times bigger.

[The Principal]

The EPA says that we produce 243 million tons of solid waste a year in the United States.

243 million / 300 million people = .81 tons of garbage per person per year. A ton is 2000 lbs so that's 1620 llbs per year per person. Divide that by 365 and you get 4.4 lbs per day per person.

Yeah, but they said, "the average American". They didn't say "average per American". I don't know anyone that produces near 4.4 pounds per day. I don't know enough to know who or where but something is skewing the data.

[MannyIsGod]

Nothing is skewing the data. I just showed you how they came up with it.

[Wild Cobra]

The EPA says that we produce 243 million tons of solid waste a year in the United States.

243 million / 300 million people = .81 tons of garbage per person per year. A ton is 2000 lbs so that's 1620 llbs per year per person. Divide that by 365 and you get 4.4 lbs per day per person.

I see.

The sum total of everything divided by everyone. That does not match with the OP, which states "the average American produces about 4.4 pounds (2 kg) of garbage a day." this implies in our household. These numbers include variables that no individual is responsible for.

Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling,
and Disposal in the United States:
Facts and Figures for 2009 (http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009-fs.pdf)

[Wild Cobra]

Yeah, but they said, "the average American". They didn't say "average per American". I don't know anyone that produces near 4.4 pounds per day. I don't know enough to know who or where but something is skewing the data.
No shit. Big difference with the terminology, but libtards don't care.

[MannyIsGod]

:lol

So the OP's link poorly words something and somehow its now liberal's fault?

Fucking classic.


I promise you that you generate more garbage than you think you do. You simply don't account for the garbage generated by your daily activities but rather just what you accumulate yourself. Now whether or not you generate that amount, more, or less I cannot tell you but in general most people don't recycle or only recycle a tiny amount of what they actually have a hand in generating.

[DMC]

However, I call bullshit that Mexico is more and if it IS more by household then thats because household sizes in Mexico are larger than in the United States. There is no way its higher per capita.

Aren't you using a double standard here? You are saying (I think) the US numbers are based on per capita, but that Mexico's are per household?

[DMC]

Yeah, but they said, "the average American". They didn't say "average per American". I don't know anyone that produces near 4.4 pounds per day. I don't know enough to know who or where but something is skewing the data.

David Robinson probably uses 10x more than anyone else because he has a garbage leak he wasn't aware of.

[Vici]

I have no idea where the article got the Mexian data.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/env_pol_mun_was_per_cap-pollution-municipal-waste-per-capita

[MannyIsGod]

Aren't you using a double standard here? You are saying (I think) the US numbers are based on per capita, but that Mexico's are per household?

No, I'm saying that the article is FOS. They used the household metric which is fairly useless unless the household sizes are the same which they are not. I don't think Mexico is above in either catagory regardless of what the article says because the numbers do not add up. Mexico generates about 40% of the waste per person that we do here and the their household size isn't big enough to make up for that and still be 30% above the US average.

Anyway you measure the numbers you can't make it seem that Mexico generates more solid waste than the United States.

[The Principal]

:lol
I promise you that you generate more garbage than you think you do. You simply don't account for the garbage generated by your daily activities but rather just what you accumulate yourself. Now whether or not you generate that amount, more, or less I cannot tell you but in general most people don't recycle or only recycle a tiny amount of what they actually have a hand in generating.

Maybe I do generate more than I would estimate. But it is nowhere near 4.4 pounds. Even you include a good hardy stool, it's not even close.

[MannyIsGod]

Maybe I do generate more than I would estimate. But it is nowhere near 4.4 pounds. Even you include a good hardy stool, it's not even close.

How do you know? Who do you think is generating all the trash in this country if not the average American, then?

[The Principal]

How do you know? Who do you think is generating all the trash in this country if not the average American, then?

I know how heavy 4.4 pounds is. I lift it every time I take a leak.
ha ha. But seriously, I know I don't generate that much trash. It's not even worth the trouble for me to record a week's worth of my activity.

I'm not sure if you're being serious or not. Do you agree that the "the average American" is different than "per capita"?

Mathwise, it's pretty easy. The average American is x years old, x color, eats x, etc.

The average American does not genreate 4.4 pounds of trash. I don't know who does. Maybe it's all the babies and all the really old people throwing away 10 pounds of diapers a day.

[boutons_deux]

Something extremely simple for residential neighborhoods with the 64-gal provided containers for mechanized pickup:

Every even month, the containers go on the even side of the street, and same for odd month.

This means the truck only has to make one circuit through the area, rather than up and down each street, cutting noise and fuel consumption and maybe number of trucks way down.

If you really wanna be freaked out, look at the pounds of sugar per USA capita over the last several decades.

[MannyIsGod]

You don't know who generates the garbage but you know who doesn't? Ok then.

The wording that the average American vs per capita is different and they imply different things but not drastically so. The point is that unless you can point to a large enough subset of America that is generating huge amounts of solid waste and throwing off the average significantly then the figures are likely accurate.

[cantthinkofanything]

Something extremely simple for residential neighborhoods with the 64-gal provided containers for mechanized pickup:

Every even month, the containers go on the even side of the street, and same for odd month.

This means the truck only has to make one circuit through the area, rather than up and down each street, cutting noise and fuel consumption and maybe number of trucks way down.

If you really wanna be freaked out, look at the pounds of sugar per USA capita over the last several decades.

Where I live, the truck only makes one circuit anyway and the guys run to both sides of the street to grab the bins.

[The Principal]

You don't know who generates the garbage but you know who doesn't? Ok then.

The wording that the average American vs per capita is different and they imply different things but not drastically so. The point is that unless you can point to a large enough subset of America that is generating huge amounts of solid waste and throwing off the average significantly then the figures are likely accurate.

The statment makes absolute since. I don't know who does something but I know who doesn't. I know you can't really be so dense as to not get that. Obiously, I don't know EVERYONE that doesn't or by process of elimination, I could tell you who does.

But as an example, I know someone drives through my neighborhood every night screeching tires and honking. I know it's not me. And I know 1000 other people that it's not. But even with all that, I don't know who it is.

And the difference between "the average American" and "the average of Americans" can be drastically different. In this case, I think it is significant. Without any backup, you can't say that the figures are likely accurate. You have no idea. Emperically, I believe that the average American does not generate 4.4 pounds of trash per day.

[MannyIsGod]

The difference is that one of us is using figures to come to a reasonable conclusion and the other is using absolutely nothing. The reason you know its not you making those noises is at night is due to observation. You KNOW where you are at that time. Yet, you admit you have no clue as to how much garbage you generate and yet at the same time want to act as if you know how much you don't generate when there are figures that contradict your "gut feeling".

Given what goes into these figures (which can be found here: http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009-fs.pdf) I think the burden of proof to show that the average American generates less garbage is a bit more than "I know".

Thats not to say its a constant 4.4lbs every day. Obviously certain days will be more than others and some may be drastically more than others.

[DMC]

I know how heavy 4.4 pounds is. I lift it every time I take a leak.



Your skirt weights 4.4lbs?

/LC

[The Principal]

The difference is that one of us is using figures to come to a reasonable conclusion and the other is using absolutely nothing. The reason you know its not you making those noises is at night is due to observation. You KNOW where you are at that time. Yet, you admit you have no clue as to how much garbage you generate and yet at the same time want to act as if you know how much you don't generate when there are figures that contradict your "gut feeling".

Given what goes into these figures (which can be found here: http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009-fs.pdf) I think the burden of proof to show that the average American generates less garbage is a bit more than "I know".

Thats not to say its a constant 4.4lbs every day. Obviously certain days will be more than others and some may be drastically more than others.

I'm not the one that wrote an article saying the "average American" generates 4.4 pounds of garbage per day. Whoever wrote it and used that particular phrase needs to back it up. They backed up a different statement.

Ok, as to my example, I can name 1000 other people who I know didn't do it. Not because I observed anything. But because I can reasonably assume it.

And LOL about your claim the EPA is in "the know".

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah, the EPA conducting studies on the issue on a yearly basis obviously knows less than your gut feelings.

My bad.

[The Principal]

Yeah, the EPA conducting studies on the issue on a yearly basis obviously knows less than your gut feelings.

My bad.

Government agencies are notorious for inaccurate data and erroneous assumptions.

[MannyIsGod]

Obviously your gut feelings have a track record of incredible accuracy.