How Much Waste Does a Person Produce in a Lifetime?

DoGoodHQ.co Editorial TeamLast Updated: October 22, 2024

How Much Waste Does a Person Produce in a Lifetime?

Almost everyone produces waste of some kind throughout their day. From that soda can in your lunch to the cardboard boxes from your latest online shopping splurge, trash is an (almost) unavoidable reality of modern life.
While your daily deposits in the trash bin may not feel like a lot, a quick trip to the dumpster or a drive past the local recycling plant might start to put things in perspective.
Millions of tons of trash are produced over a lifetime, ending up in our parks, streets, landfills, and oceans. Understanding the increasing global waste problem is the first step to making conscious changes that can reduce waste and support a healthier world.
Defining “Waste” – Different Types & Implications
Individuals, communities, and organizations produce many different types of waste through normal daily activities.

Let’s break down some of the common categories of waste and what they mean for the planet:
- Food Waste: This includes household table scraps, restaurant waste, discarded food from supermarkets, and any other edibles that don’t make it into a lucky compost pile. When food rots in landfills, it releases large amounts of methane, a harmful greenhouse gas.
- Agricultural and Animal Waste: Raising livestock and growing crops produces various kinds of pollution, including feedlot runoff and waste generated from feeding animals and harvesting food. Methane is a product of animal manure, burning discarded organic matter, and emissions from growing rice.
- Construction and Demolition Materials: Expanding populations means there is always more construction, renovation, and new infrastructure. Lumber, drywall, concrete, and other building materials are often discarded after demolition but can indeed be recycled and reused when handled properly.
- Plastic Waste: Because plastic is not biodegradable, it remains in the environment and disrupts ecosystems in catastrophic ways. The prevalence of plastic in packaging, toys, and other disposable goods poses a huge risk to wildlife, as well as the health and safety of people around the globe.
- Fossil Fuel Emissions: When fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas are burned to generate electricity or power your car, they release carbon dioxide, one of the chief contributors to climate change.
- Municipal Solid Waste: For most people, this is the kind of waste you deal with in day-to-day life. It encompasses many different kinds of physical trash from businesses and residential properties, including product packaging, yard trimmings, electronics, paper waste, and any other kind of household trash. Municipal waste landfills are the third largest source of methane produced from human activities in the U.S.
How much waste does a person produce in a lifetime?
The amount of waste produced by each person depends on their lifestyle, location, and various other personal factors.
The average American who lives to age 76 will leave behind almost 140 thousand pounds of trash when they go. But in countries like Switzerland and Denmark, where recycling, composting, and incineration have reduced municipal waste by an impressive degree, that number is much, much lower.
Access to realistic and reliable waste management services can help everyone live greener lives, but it all comes down to individual choices. Conscious waste-reduction efforts begin at home.
How much waste does the US produce?
The average American produces around 4.9 lbs of trash every day (EPA, 2023). For families, that number is around 18 lbs per day. Those numbers add up quickly. Americans are responsible for almost 270 million tons of trash every year—the weight of more than 1.35 million blue whales combined! There aren’t even anywhere near that many on the planet to weigh.
And while America is home to only about 4% of the world’s population, they create around 12% of the world’s garbage. And while other countries produce more waste in the grand scheme of things, their populations are vastly greater than that of the U.S.
Unfortunately, America takes the cake when it comes to the most trash produced per member of the population. That’s not a great superlative to have under your name.
More Key Waste Facts & Quick Stats
A few (not so) fun facts about the waste issue in America and the world:
- Food and paper products, including cardboard, make up almost half of the total municipal solid waste produced in the United States (EPA, 2023).
- Transportation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., including cars, trucks, and aircrafts (EPA, 2024).
Waste Management Statistics
The numbers don’t lie: the way we handle waste needs to change. Here are a couple of things you should know about the state of trash disposal:
- America is estimated to run out of landfill space in the next 60 years, and in some states, that time may be less than a decade away (Environment America, 2023).
- Global waste management efforts are extremely costly. It’s estimated that by 2050, the problem could account for $640.3 billion in annual spending worldwide (UNEP, 2024).
Recycling Statistics
Finally some good news: recycling can help!
- In 2018, recycling and composting trash kept over 193 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere (EPA, 2023).
- Aluminum is one of the easiest materials to recycle. It requires 95% less energy to repurpose it than to produce it using raw materials (NIH).
What You Can Do to Minimize Waste
There’s no doubt that waste management changes need to happen on a societal level, but all good things start small. Here’s what you can do the help:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
These are the big three when it comes to reducing waste. Reducing the amount of trash you create, reusing or repurposing items instead of tossing them, and recycling materials like paper and plastic can have a huge impact on the amount of waste you produce.
Live Sustainably
Sustainable living comes from the small choices we make every day. Driving less, recycling more, and making environmentally conscious purchasing decisions can all reduce the amount of waste you create. Something as simple as bringing your own reusable bags to the store can keep hundreds of plastic bags out of landfills every year.
Consume Wisely & Intentionally
In a booming consumer economy, the pressure to “buy buy buy” is ever-present. Pick your purchases wisely and opt for goods that are reusable, come in biodegradable packaging, and are produced responsibly.
Consider Composting
It’s nature’s own recycling program. Reduce your food and yard waste by starting a compost pile at home. You don’t need a lot of space, and it’s fairly easy to build or buy a compact container.
If you live in an apartment building or shared housing, don’t fret! If your city or county doesn’t offer municipal composting services, there may be a community garden or organization ready to accept your compostable waste.
Our Take on Waste Management
By now, it’s clear that the world, and especially the U.S., has a serious trash problem. There’s no quick fix, but making small, mindful changes in your daily routines can keep staggering amounts of waste from entering landfills or ending up in our oceans.
Changes in how we manage our waste in our kitchens, homes, and communities can lead to healthier lives for us all, and the planet we call home.
Featured Image via Waed Goumani from Pixabay