9 Highlights from the EPA's Annual MSW Report

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released its annual report on municipal solid waste generation. The report, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures 2013, has been renamed from previous years when it was called Municipal Waste in the United States: Facts and Figures. Waste360 took a look through the report and here are some of the key charts and tables.

According to the study, the rate of MSW discarded fell one percentage point from 2012 to 52.8 percent. The recovery rate also fell slightly to 34.3 percent in 2013 from 34.5 percent in 2013. However, the rate on combustion with energy recovery rose to 12.9 percent in 2013 from 11.7 percent in 2012.

Americans generated about 254.1 million tons of waste and recycled and composted more than 87 million tons.

On a per capita basis, the amount of waste generated per American per day rose slightly to 4.40 pounds in 2013 from 4.38 pounds in 2012. In 2013, Americans recycled and composted about 1.51 pounds per day, but the composition changed slightly with composting increasing and recycling decreasing.