U.S. MSW landfill shares by material

Food accounted for roughly a quarter of municipal solid waste landfilled in the United States in 2018. This was followed by plastics, which represented the second largest share with 18.5 percent. The volume of MSW landfilled in the U.S. has increased by 77 percent since 1960 to 146 million tons.

Distribution of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfilled in the United States in 2018, by material*

Characteristic	Share of landfilled waste
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Release date

January 2021

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2018

Special properties

Based on 146 million tons of landfilled waste

Supplementary notes

* Landfilling after recycling, composting, other food management pathways and combustion with energy recovery. Does not include construction & demolition debris, industrial process wastes or certain other wastes. Details may not add to totals due to rounding.
** Includes electrolytes in batteries and fluff pulp, feces and urine in disposable diapers.
*** Miscellaneous inorganic wastes in municipal solid waste (MSW) in this analysis includes soil, bits of concrete, and stones.

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