What product takes up the most space in US landfills? - County of Hawai‘i Department of Environmental Management (2024)

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What product takes up the most space in US landfills? - County of Hawai‘i Department of Environmental Management? ›

What product takes up the most space in US landfills? According to the US EPA, the material most frequently encountered in MSW landfills is plain old paper, it sometimes accounts for more than 40 percent of a landfill's contents. Newspapers alone can take up as much as 13 percent of the space in US landfills.

In fact, food is the single largest component taking up space inside US landfills, making up 22 percent of municipal solid waste (MSW).

Food is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills and represents wasted nourishment that could have helped feed families in need.

Every year, U.S. landfills are filled with 139.6 million tons of waste, including: 30.63 million tons of food. 26.82 million tons of plastic. 18.35 million tons of paper and paperboard.

Landfill gas (LFG) is a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic material in landfills. LFG is composed of roughly 50 percent methane (the primary component of natural gas), 50 percent carbon dioxide (CO₂) and a small amount of non-methane organic compounds.

Paper and paperboard products made up the largest percentage of all the materials in MSW, at 23.1 percent of total generation.

Surprisingly, food is the largest component of what goes into landfills, making up about a quarter of total landfill waste. Another 18 percent of what ends up in landfills is plastic, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the US EPA, the material most frequently encountered in MSW landfills is plain old paper, it sometimes accounts for more than 40 percent of a landfill's contents. Newspapers alone can take up as much as 13 percent of the space in US landfills.

The largest component of landfilled municipal solid waste (MSW) is food scraps, accounting for approximately 22% of municipal discards in the landfill.

Organic waste — materials such as food and yard waste — was the largest category of waste found in landfills statewide, according to the DNR's latest waste characterization study.

What is the single most common material put into the landfills? ›

In the U.S., food is the single most common material sent to landfills, comprising 24.1 percent of municipal solid waste.

The Puente Hills Landfill is the largest landfill in America. Over 150 m (490 ft) of garbage has risen from the ground since the area became a designated landfill site in 1957.

Plastics: up to 1,000 years

Water bottles, for example, lead the way as far as longevity is concerned; numerous studies suggest they can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.

The higher the population, the greater the demand for products and in turn, the more waste is dumped into landfills. One of the worst effects of population growth is the increased demand for plastics, plastic pollution has been on a near-constant rise over the last decade due to our increased population.

What goes into a landfill? In most cases, landfills are municipal solid waste facilities that collect and bury whatever isn't sent to municipal recovery facilities (otherwise known as MRFs). This includes food waste, paper, glass, plastic and other products that could otherwise be composted or recycled.

A lot of the different materials that end up in landfills contain toxins that are eventually released and seep into the soil and groundwater. These substances are major hazards to the environment and can last for several years.

According the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, in the United States, food is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills, where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.