One tenth of this volume has been excavated from landfills while the rest had been obtained from trucks. The results of this research has yeilded some rather surprising insights into the daily habits of the American culture. Below are five common myths as perceived by the general public and the truth as elucidated by the extensive research into consumer waste. Numerous surveys conducted by the Garbage Project researchers have, over the years, queried the population as to what they believe to be the percentage of the aforementioned post consumer waste in our nation's landfills. These numbers were representative of nine municipalities and included not only the containers and wrappers, but also the cups, lids, straws and the like.
Plastic is a big contributor to landfill waste.
In actuality, while the disposal of plastic is a significant contributor to the garbage in landfills the actual amount is surprisingly small. Only between 20 and 24 percent of all waste surveyed was made up of plastics. This volume includes such items as utensils, toys, packaging, film and foam just to name a few. When ultimately compacted with the rest of the garbage this volume fell to only 16 percent. As more and more packaging and equipment is made from some form of plastic one would assume that the volume of this material would be on the rise.