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Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. " Garbage " can also refer specifically to food waste , as in a garbage disposal ; the two are sometimes collected separately.
Categories of solid waste generated in the U.S., 1960 through 2014. As a nation, Americans generate more waste than any other nation in the world, officially with 4.4 pounds (2.0 kg) of municipal solid waste (MSW) per person per day, [1] with another study estimating 7.1 pounds (3.2 kg) per capita per day. [2]
Decomposing waste in these landfills produces landfill gas, which is a mixture of about half methane and half carbon dioxide. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions in the United States, with municipal solid waste landfills representing 95 percent of this fraction. [15] [16]
Solid Waste Tree, Based on Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, United States Environmental Protection Agency. Solid waste means any garbage or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or an air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial ...
Waste management laws govern the transport, treatment, storage, and disposal of all manner of waste, including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, and nuclear waste, among many other types. Waste laws are generally designed to minimize or eliminate the uncontrolled dispersal of waste materials into the environment in a manner that may cause ...
A waste product may become a by-product, joint product or resource through an invention that raises a waste product's value above zero. Examples include municipal solid waste (household trash/refuse), hazardous waste, wastewater (such as sewage, which contains bodily wastes (feces and urine) and surface runoff), radioactive waste, and others.
That means about 5% of the nation's food waste is composted, with the rest ending up in landfills, where food is the most commonly found material. In landfills, food waste decomposes much slower ...
Once collected, the facility will market and sell the waste as a feedstock for various products. Notable companies involved in the waste collection and processing industry in the United States include Waste Management and Republic Services. In some cases the waste management is handled by a local government agency.