From start to finish, the life cycle of waste can be summed up in five steps:
A manufacturing facility creates a product and sends it to the store or distribution facility.
You buy the product, take it home and eventually throw the packaging or used materials away.
You fill your garbage bin up throughout the week and roll it to the curb the night before trash collection day.
The garbage company comes the next day, dumps your trash into the truck and drives away.
Your waste usually goes to a transfer station, where the garbage is sorted and sent either to the landfill, a recycling center or a composting facility.