Trash produced per capita in all countries

Every year around two billion tons of municipal solid trash is generated worldwide. In the developed world, the undisputed leader is the United States, with 258 tons annually. However, if you compare the trash produced per 100 thousand residents, surprisingly, the citizens of Iceland outperform the United States. Other top-performing nations are Mongolia and Moldavia.

The map below was created by city-data.com using World Bank data. It shows pounds of municipal solid waste are generated per capita daily.

The largest producers of garbage per capita are also Kuwait, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Sri Lanka, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Qatar, and Bahrain.

For more on this subject have a look at the following books:

• Year of No Garbage: Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems, and One Woman's Trashy Journey to Zero Waste
• 101 Ways to Help the Planet – A One Year Challenge: Make One Small Change a Week to Help the Environment