American Trash Management: The 10 Least and Most Wasteful States

Updated January 17, 2024

The United States is the most wasteful country in the world.  Waste management performance is commonly assessed by looking at the total volume of waste factored by the number of people in a given area. This provides a per capita average of trash output. The way waste or trash is defined varies but there is general agreement that on a per capita basis, Americans generate more waste than any other nation* and these numbers have been trending upward.

According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), each American generates an average of 4.9 pounds (2.3 kg)  of trash per day.  The Trash in America study indicates that number is much higher with each American generating an average of 7 pounds (3.1 kg) of garbage per day, or 2,555 pounds (1158.9 kg) of trash per year. The average American family produces about 18 pounds (8.16 kilograms) in a day and over 6,570 pounds (2980 kilograms) per year. Americans represent just over 4 percent of the global population, so depending on the data set, the US generates between 12 and 30 percent of global waste. To put these numbers into context, the global average daily waste per person averages 1.63 pounds (0.74 kilograms) or 595 pounds (270 kilograms) per year.

Types of waste

Municipal solid waste (MSW) includes materials discarded by homes, businesses, and institutions. According to the EPA, Americans generated more than 292 million tons of MSW in 2018.  Paper accounts for the largest share at 23 percent, followed closely by food waste at 21 percent. Plastic represents 12 percent of waste, and the remaining trash is composed of yard trimmings (12%) and metals (8%). Paper, food, and plastic account for more than half of the waste in landfills, and 20 percent is construction materials like wood, metal, and glass.

Some data suggests that up to 90 percent of all raw materials extracted for use in the US are incinerated or dumped in a landfill, EPA statistics indicate that 62 percent of American waste is incinerated or discarded in landfills.  Although the number of US municipal landfill sites have declined significantly since 1990, there are more than 2000 active landfills across the US.

Environmental impact of improper waste management

Waste management has significant negative environmental implications. It also adversely impacts the health of humans as well as a wide array of flora and fauna. Garbage can prove deadly in surprising ways. Improperly discarded waste kills an average of 3 people a day on American roads or more than 800 per year. Trash is also a threat to animals from livestock to birds and fish.  Waste is harmful to biodiversity, it displaces indigenous species, destroys habitats, and disrupts ecosystems.

Harmful chemicals and toxic substances are known to seep from landfills and contaminate both the soil and drinking water.  When waste is incinerated it produces air pollutants like carbon dioxide, particulate matter, heavy metals, mercury, and dioxin, one of the most toxic known substances.  

Wasted food in landfills is the third largest emitter of methane, a powerful climate change-causing greenhouse gas (GHG). In addition to being a major source of GHGs, plastics have other harmful impacts. Plastics erode soil quality and hinder plant growth. They also contaminate waterways which disrupts marine ecosystems. Ingestion and entanglement in plastic is devastating to marine life. Microplastics have contaminated aquatic and terrestrial food chains.  These plastics can also become airborne and cause respiratory problems.

Electronic waste (e-waste) includes metals like lead, which can cause sickness and even death. E-waste also contains other metals like mercury, beryllium, and chromium all of which can contaminate the soil and water.  

The 10 least wasteful states

The states with the least waste per person are Connecticut followed by Massachusetts, Minnesota, Wyoming, North Dakota, Idaho, Maryland, South Dakota, Vermont, and Maine.  Connecticut generates 4 times less waste than the national average of 35 tons and only 13 percent of the waste of the worst-faring states.

Sparsely populated states contribute the least to landfills on a per capita basis.  States such as Wyoming, Idaho, Maine, Vermont, and North and South Dakota, all have relatively smaller populations, and all rank among the states with the least landfill waste per person.

In addition to waste output, LawnStarter analysis assessed additional elements like a state’s waste policies and recycling facilities. According to this analysis Connecticut was singled out as the state with the best waste management practices in the US, followed by California, Vermont, Oregon, New York, Maine, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Washington.  This study revealed that Northern states tended to outperform other regions apart from California. According to another LawnStarter analysis, the states with the least food waste are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, Vermont, Louisiana, Washington, Iowa, New York, California, Illinois, and Maine.

The 10 most wasteful states

The states with the most waste per person are Michigan, followed by Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, Nevada, Colorado, and Kentucky.  Regions with the highest per capita waste were Upper Midwestern and Eastern industrial states. Michigan’s 68 tons of trash stands out for being more than 90 percent above the national average and 768 percent above Connecticut. It logically follows that States with more people also generate more waste. This is why California, as the most populace state in the US, has the highest total statewide waste output at 1,997,672,473 tons.

According to Lawnstarter, Alaska is the worst-performing state overall, preceded by Nevada, Montana, Arizona, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wyoming, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Kansas. This study revealed that the West occupies most of the top 5 worst state rankings in terms of waste output.  This analysis also showed that small states have big waste management problems with the two smallest states by land area (Rhode Island and Delaware) ranking in the bottom five in landfill waste volume. The LawnStarter ranking indicates the states with the worst food waste are Arizona, North Dakota, Hawaii, Nevada, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Georgia Montana, and South Dakota

For the 48th Earth Day in 2018, 10 State governments were chosen by the American State Litter Scorecard for having “excessive, harmful quantities of waste on their public properties.”  The most wasteful states in this list are Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Nevada, South Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, and Oklahoma.  

The Worst Littered Public Spaces for the period between 2014 and 2017 were South Carolina, Nevada, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky/Wyoming (tie), South Dakota, Louisiana, Michigan/New Mexico (tie), and Oklahoma.  For the period between 2011-2014, the worst littered public spaces were Kentucky, Louisiana/Mississippi/Nevada, Alabama, Indiana, Georgia/Illinois/Oklahoma (tie), and Michigan/North Dakota/Texas (tie).  Finally, for the period between 2008 and 2011, the worst list included Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas/Nevada/West Virginia (tie), New Mexico, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Addressing the national waste problem

Consumption is a causal link in the waste chain. We can buy less and make smarter buying decisions. We can refrain from using single-use plastics, and buy products with minimal, or no packaging while ensuring that the packaging of the things that we buy can be fully recyclable or compostable.  Addressing the problem of packaging waste could decrease American garbage by as much as 30 percent.

Reducing waste and increasing durability starts by removing the profit incentive to build in obsolescence. To avoid waste, goods must be built to last and easy to reuse, repair, recycle, repurpose (upcycle), or compost.  Making producers and consumers accountable for the volume of trash they generate can incentivize waste minimization.  Only 12 US state governments mandate recycling thus only 38 percent of American waste is recycled or composted. States need to increase recycling mandates and recycling ambitions need to be increased.

While residential waste is important, any comprehensive solution must include industrial processes like mining, manufacturing, and agriculture which are responsible for most of the solid waste in America.

Composting residential food waste can reduce up to 30 percent of solid waste in landfills and substantially reduce GHG emissions.  According to the WWF, in the US alone, wasted food generates the equivalent of 32.6 million cars worth of GHG emissions.  So, eliminating food waste would go a long way toward reducing emissions. According to these estimates, ending food waste could eliminate between 6% and 8% of all anthropogenic GHGs.

A recent study, published in the journal Science, indicates that anaerobic digesters could reduce emissions by 70 percent, halving waste generation could reduce emissions by 63 percent, and composting organic waste could reduce emissions by 57 percent. Finally, retrofitting landfills with systems that capture methane could reduce emissions by an additional 27 percent. If we fail to act to curb landfill emissions the study predicts we will generate the equivalent of about 35.3 to 38.6 billion tons of GHG emissions between 2020 and 2050.

The Science study indicates that we have the technological ability to zero out emissions from landfills. We may even be able to create negative carbon global waste management systems. Such a system would remove more emissions than is generated by the waste.

A circular economy is a paradigm shift that could address the problem of waste wholistically. A circular economy operates in a closed loop where inputs are minimized and accounted for from cradle to grave.  This ‘life cycle approach’ accounts for everything from the resources required to make something right through to end-of-life recycling.

Conclusion

Compared to the UK and the EU, the US has far less advanced waste management practices. So, there is lots of room for improvement. Even states that rank well can improve by crafting policies, programs, and incentives that account for the unique characteristics of the waste management conditions they are confronting.  A good waste management policy is key because it has been proven to drive improved performance.

In the final analysis, waste is best understood as a byproduct of consumption. So, reducing the amount of waste generated in the first place is a critical part of these efforts. Such a transformation will require education to help everyone understand the importance of effective waste management.

Sustainable waste management practices could enable us to live within the Earth’s carrying capacity. One thing is certain, we will not be able to build a better future unless we do a better job of minimizing and managing waste.

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* Unless otherwise indicated, all the data in this article are derived from an analysis of Landfill Technical Data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the report State Population Totals and Components of Change: 2020-2022 produced by the United States Census Bureau.