Solid Waste Issues and Answers. In the US, yard trimmings and food scraps make up about one-fourth of our waste stream. This results in dumping the equivalent of more than 21 million shopping bags full of food into landfills every year. One pound of red worms can consume half a pound of food waste every day. Thirty percent of municipal solid waste is made up of packaging.
Kids Can Do to Save the Earth .
When a climbing team reached North America's highest peak, they found a pile of partially eaten food, foil wrappers from freeze-dried meals, plastic bags, and other trash left behind by previous climbers. G. Tyler Miller, Jr., Living in the Environment, 1990. 1,620,000 tons of cans per year. 350,000 tons of foil per year. Kids Can Do to Save the Earth .