| GRN Recycle Talk FAQ Answer |
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 14:23:48 -0500 (EST) From: FRIEDMAN.FRED@EPA.GOV (Fred Friedman) Subject: Re: Recycling statistics on States involvement (Recycling Speaker)
March 1, 2000
Dear Recycling Speaker,
Every April, Biocycle magazine has what you want in an article called The State of Garbage in America . So, in 4/99 we learn that the states recycling the most of their municipal solid waste are:
MN, 45%
NJ, 43%
NY, 43%
ME, 42%
SD, 42%
SC, 42%
and further that all of these are even more impressive because they all include construction and demolition debris.
But let us be very careful. Not all states count the same things to create a recycling rate. That is why these figures must ultimately be checked, closely.
The states with the smallest recycling rate in 1998 (all of the April editions will be for the previous year) are:
MT, 5%
WY, 5%
AK, 7%
DC, 8%
All of these include construction debris, and Montana and Wyoming include agricultural waste as well. DC does not. The small recycling states are big landfilling states, except for DC which incinerates 92% of its waste.
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