What a Waste! The Data Behind Responsible Consumption and Production in the U.S.

Americans create on average 5 pounds of trash per day. This might make you think twice about buying that single-use plastic water bottle. We can make choices in our daily lives to limit the waste we contribute each day.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while the amount of waste sent to landfills has decreased 44% from the 1960s to now, we are still producing 146 million tons each year.

How do we meet the goal set by the United Nations to solve responsible consumption and production?

The United Nations has defined 11 Targets and 13 Indicators to track progress towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goal of Responsible Consumption and Production by 2030. The data below takes a look at key indicators in the U.S. related to waste management, food waste, state laws for single-use plastic bags, recycling, and more through the lens of government and social sector data.

Sustainable Consumption and Production is about doing more and better with less — the use of services and products that meet basic needs and improve quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials, as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations.

Consumption and Production by the numbers.

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