According to the world bank the average American throws away 4.5 Lb of garbage per day. This is about 299 million tons per year. That is according to the 1985 estimates. Hopefully the situation has gotten better since then; either due to better recycling and/or waste management practices.

The garbage we produce is thrown into one of The United States 6,000 landfills. That doesn't include all of the transportation and holding areas that are constantly processing solid waste.

One positive note is an estimate as to how much space we will need in the coming century to hold all of this garbage. A rough estimate has been made that all of the solid waste produced between 2001 and 2100 should fit in a 18 x 18 mile squared area, 100 feet high. This estimate is likely actually to be high. We cannot predict what upcoming recycling technologies could to to bring that area down. We also can't predict, however, new types of garbage that could be produced. What if something as revolutionary as plastic comes along in this next century?

The fact is, the more we throw away, the more we have to take, this means more habitat destroyed and more animals living on the brink of survival. The trash itself isn't the big picture, its what it means that matters.

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