Landfill Facts

Sending trash to a landfill site is one of the most common methods of waste disposal worldwide. More than two billion tons of garbage are generated globally every year and sadly the majority of this ends up in landfill sites. This negatively impacts the environment, wildlife, and health.

According to the most recent data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 146.1 million tons of municipal solid waste are sent to landfill sites annually in the US. That’s an incredible amount of garbage that gets buried in thousands of landfill sites across the country, decomposing and releasing methane into the atmosphere.

Landfilling remains popular despite growing recycling rates and alternative disposal methods developing. These facts about landfill highlight how much trash is still disposed of at such sites and the true scale of the practice across the US and wider world.

How many landfills are in the US?
What is the biggest landfill in the US?
How much waste goes to landfill each year?

What are the most common landfill items?
How much recycling ends up in landfill?
Landfill statistics

How many landfills are in the US?

There are more than 2,600 active landfills in the US for municipal solid waste, according to figures from the Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP). These are mainly for trash from homes, businesses, and schools. They’re managed by individual states, and the number varies across the country.

There are also industrial landfills used for construction and demolition waste as well as hazardous waste landfills for dangerous waste types, so the exact total number of landfills in the US is higher. Alongside this, it’s estimated that there are more than 10,000 closed landfills across the US.

What is the biggest landfill in the US?

Apex Regional landfill near Las Vegas, Nevada is the biggest landfill in the US based on capacity. It’s the largest landfill site in the world based on its planned capacity and area with it projected to hold 994.92 million tons of garbage when it’s full.

The Fairless landfill site in Morrisville, Pennsylvania is the biggest landfill in the US based on current capacity. It accepts around 3.9 million tons of trash every year, but is projected to close in 2032. Apex Regional landfill is expected to stay open for another 250 years at least.

How much waste goes
to landfill each year?

146.1 million tons of municipal solid waste go to landfill each year in the US. That’s more than half of all the trash Americans produce annually. There’s no exact figure for how much garbage goes to landfill every year around the world in total, but it’s estimated that 37% of global waste ends up in some kind of landfill.

Landfilling is the most common disposal method for waste worldwide, followed by composting, incineration, and recycling. Various factors affect how much trash countries send to landfill each year. These include a nation’s wealth, size, infrastructure, and development. The US sends a lot of garbage to landfill, but it’s not the only country to do so.

Israel sends 524kg out of 650kg of all waste generated in the country to landfills. Turkey and Chile also send high volumes of waste to landfill per capita each year. Incineration is often more popular than landfilling for disposal but in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia more than half of the waste generated ends up in landfill sites.

Then there are countries that barely dispose of any trash in landfills. These include Belgium, Finland, Switzerland, Estonia, and Japan. They all get rid of less than 3kg per capita of waste in landfills.

What are the most common landfill items?

The most common landfill items in the US by material and percentage according to figures from the EPA are:

Food – 24.1%
Plastics – 18.5%
Paper and paperboard – 11.8%
Metals – 9.5%
Wood – 8.3%
Textiles – 7.7%
Yard trimmings – 7.2%
Rubber and leather – 3.4%

How much recycling ends up in landfill?

Recycling rates have grown over the past few decades and more solid waste streams are recycled than ever before. However, lots of recyclable plastic, paper, metal, wood, and other materials still get disposed of in landfill sites. It’s hard to gauge exactly how much recycling ends up in landfill but it’s estimated at between 15 and 45%.

Landfill statistics

These landfill statistics provide an overview of their size, usage, and impact across the US:

Capacity of all documented landfills in the US is just below 50%
Food waste accounts for almost a quarter of all trash in landfills in the US
Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions in the US
85% of waste sent to landfills in the US could be incinerated to generate electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration
The average landfill is 600 acres in size
It’s estimated that 1,800,000 acres of habitat have been lost to make room for American landfill sites
Landfills in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania generate the most landfill gas
Wyoming, North Dakota, and Hawaii have landfills that produce the least gas
States that have the most waste per person in landfills are:
- Nevada – 38.4 tons
- Pennsylvania – 35.4
- Colorado – 35.2
States with the least waste per person in landfills are:
- Idaho – 4.1
- North Dakota – 5.2
- Connecticut – 7.3
Big landfills reduce the value of adjacent land by 12.9%

Stop your business from adding to these landfill statistics with our expert commercial recycling services. We can provide a wide range of dumpsters to separate the trash streams your business produces and arrange collections frequently, keeping all your garbage out of landfill sites. Get a free no-obligation quote today – call 888 584 2118 or contact us online.

Ocean trash facts

Dive into some shocking facts and statistics about the amount of trash in our oceans.

Ocean trash facts
Food waste facts

Discover how much leftover food, expired ingredients, and other food items go to waste.

Food waste facts
Littering facts

Pick up some statistics and facts about the amount of trash dropped on roadways, in waterways, and elsewhere.

Littering facts