Apr 11
19
North Americans are among the largest producers of waste in the world.
Environment Canada indicates Canada produces about 30 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually. This is to about 1.8 kg per day per person (4 pounds).
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) each person in the US produces about 2.1 kg of municipal solid waste every day (4.62 pounds). This means that the United States produces over 250 million metric tonnes of municipal solid waste annually.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that Mexico produces about 1 kg of garbage per person per day (2.2 pounds). This means that Mexico produces about 40 million metric tonnes of municipal waste every year.
How does this compare to the rest of the world? According to the OECD, the average for the member states of the European Union is 1.42 kg per person per day (3.1 pounds). The average for all the OECD member states is 1.53 kg per person per day (3.4 pounds).
According to the OECD, its member states produce about 1.7 billion metric tonnes of garbage every year.