page_title: Recycling in the United States
section_title: Recycling statistics
hierarchical_section_title: Recycling in the United States / Recycling status / Recycling statistics
caption_attribution_description: English: Trash can/recycling bin, Terminal AEnglish: Bote de basura y reciclaje, Terminal A
context_page_description: There is no national law in the United States that mandates recycling, and state and local governments often introduce their own recycling requirements. In 2014, the recycling/composting rate for municipal solid waste in the US was 34.6%. A number of U.S. states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont have passed laws that establish deposits or refund values on beverage containers while other jurisdictions rely on recycling goals or landfill bans of recyclable materials.
context_section_description: Recycling statistics (ca. 2014) with similar numbers as of 2015
  An average of approximately 258 million tons of trash is generated by the United States in 2014
  34.6% was recycled
  12.8% was combusted for energy recovery
  52.6% was landfilled
  4.4 pounds (2.0 kg) of trash is generated per capita per day in the United States
caption: Trash and recycle bin at George Bush Intercontinental Airport
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "FE100,X710", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "314", "Image YResolution": "314", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1.2", "Image DateTime": "2029:08:22 00:27:37", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "840", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3556", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4903", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "3", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2029:08:22 00:27:37", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2029:08:22 00:27:37", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "317/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1704", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3432", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}