Why recycle?

Recycling is one of the practical ways a household or business can send less material to a landfill, supply mills with feedstock, and keep certain hazardous components out of ordinary trash. It is not the only step — reducing and reusing usually prevent more waste — but it is the step that turns a clean bottle, can, or stack of cardboard into raw material again.

The Recycle Guide exists to explain that process clearly. For the official national picture, we use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling. EPA states that those Facts and Figures are current through calendar year 2018, and that the 2018 fact sheet released in 2020 is the latest national edition.

What the latest EPA national figures show

In 2018, the United States generated 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste (U.S. short tons), or 4.9 pounds per person per day. Of that total:

  • About 69 million tons were recycled.
  • About 25 million tons were composted.
  • Together, almost 94 million tons were recycled and composted, a 32.1 percent recycling and composting rate.
  • An additional 17.7 million tons of food were managed by other pathways EPA lists (such as animal feed, donation, or anaerobic digestion), which are counted separately from the 32.1 percent rate.
  • Nearly 35 million tons (11.8 percent) were combusted with energy recovery.
  • More than 146 million tons (50 percent) were landfilled.

EPA also notes that the 2018 recycling and composting rate was down from 34.7 percent in 2015, even as tons recycled rose slightly from 2015. These are national estimates, not a grade for your city. Local programs can do better or worse, and they should be judged on their own reports.

Reasons that still hold at the household scale

  1. Materials have a next use. Clean paper, metal, and glass are industrial feedstocks, not only “trash we felt better about.”
  2. Some items are hazardous in ordinary disposal. Batteries, certain electronics, paint, and used oil belong in special programs, which is as much a safety issue as an environmental one.
  3. Landfill space and landfill impacts are managed locally. Sending less there is a concrete contribution, even if you never see the site.
  4. Recycling is easier to do well when people understand it. An education step — reading the local list, rinsing a jar — is part of why programs succeed.

What recycling does not do by itself

Recycling does not cancel out waste you could have avoided. EPA’s reducing and reusing basics put those steps first. Recycling also cannot fix a contaminated cart: a load that is too dirty or full of the wrong items may be rejected. See Recycling Rules & Etiquette and How to Recycle?.

How to turn “why” into a weekly habit

Frequently asked questions

How much municipal waste does the United States recycle?

EPA’s latest national Facts and Figures cover calendar year 2018. The United States generated 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste, or 4.9 pounds per person per day. About 69 million tons were recycled and 25 million tons were composted, a combined 32.1 percent recycling and composting rate. About 11.8 percent was combusted with energy recovery, and about 50 percent was landfilled. EPA has not issued a newer national total.

Why did the national recycling rate not keep rising?

EPA notes that the recycling-and-composting rate was 32.1 percent in 2018, down from 34.7 percent in 2015, even though the tons recycled and composted changed only modestly. Packaging mix, markets, and measurement all play a role. A single household cannot move the national rate, but clean, local recycling still supplies mills with material and keeps usable stuff out of the landfill.

Does recycling always save energy and resources?

Making new products from recovered paper, metal, or glass often uses less energy and less virgin raw material than starting from ore or timber, which is a core reason EPA encourages recycling. The benefit depends on the material, the transport, and whether the item was actually remanufactured. Reducing and reusing still come first.

Sources and further reading

Figures and definitions in this guide come from the public sources below. Local rules still vary, so confirm with your city, county, or hauler.

Questions about this page? See the FAQ or contact us.