120 Recycling Statistics, Every One Traced to Its Source
Recycling numbers get copied between articles until nobody knows where they came from. Every figure on this page links to the agency that produced it: EPA, USGS, and the UN e-waste monitor. Nothing here is sourced from another statistics roundup.
Key takeaways
U.S. recycling and composting rate (2018)
of plastics recycled
of lead-acid batteries recycled
tons of total U.S. waste per year
- The United States recycled or composted 32.1% of its municipal solid waste, or about 94 million tons out of 292.4 million tons generated. This is 2018 data, the most recent EPA has published.
- Recycling performance splits almost entirely by material. Lead-acid batteries are at 99% and corrugated boxes at 96.5%, while plastics sit at 8.7% and textiles at 14.7%.
- Cardboard dominates. 32.1 million tons of corrugated boxes were recycled, roughly half of everything the country recycles by weight.
- The widely reported 2018 drop in the recycling rate was caused by a change in how EPA measures wasted food, not by less recycling. Recycled tonnage rose over the same period.
- Scrap metal is where recycling works commercially: $19.7 billion of U.S. iron and steel scrap purchased in 2025, and more than 13 million tons of steel recovered from roughly 17 million cars a year.
Four things the data shows that most articles miss
These come from reading the primary sources against each other rather than from any single headline figure. Each is checkable against the linked documents.
1. The famous recycling rate "collapse" of 2018 was a measurement change, not a behavior change
The U.S. recycling rate fell from about 35% in 2017 to 32.1% in 2018, and it is widely reported as a decline in recycling. It was not. EPA changed how it measures wasted food that year, which pushed total waste generation from 268.7 million tons to 292.4 million tons. The denominator moved, not the numerator. EPA states the effect plainly for composting: the rate fell from 6.3% to 4.1% while "the tons composted remained the same from 2017 to 2018" at 2.6 million tons. Recycled tonnage actually rose over the same window, from 67.6 million tons in 2015 to 69.0 million tons in 2018.
Sources: EPA, National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling
2. The United States has no primary lead refinery. All of its refined lead comes from recycling
USGS reports zero primary refinery production of lead in the U.S. for every year from 2021 through 2025, while secondary refinery output from old scrap ran at roughly 1 million tons a year, equivalent to 70% of domestic consumption. Nearly all of it comes from scrapped lead-acid batteries. Pair that with EPA, which puts the lead-acid battery recycling rate at 99%, the highest of any material it tracks, and lead becomes the one metal the U.S. economy now makes entirely out of its own garbage.
Sources: USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Lead; EPA, National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling
3. America recycles far more aluminum than it smelts, and exports more scrap than it produces primary metal
U.S. primary aluminum production has fallen to an estimated 660,000 tons in 2025, down 26% from 889,000 tons in 2021. Over the same period, aluminum recovered from purchased scrap reached about 3.6 million tons, roughly five times primary output. The country also exported 2.2 million tons of aluminum scrap in 2025 against 890,000 tons imported, meaning the U.S. ships out more aluminum scrap each year than it smelts from ore. Meanwhile the recycled tonnage of aluminum in household waste has gone backwards: 1.01 million tons in 1990 against 670,000 tons in 2018.
Sources: USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Aluminum; EPA, Aluminum: Material-Specific Data
4. The waste figure everyone quotes is less than a third of what America actually throws away
The 292.4 million ton figure is municipal solid waste only. EPA separately estimates that the U.S. generated 600.3 million tons of construction and demolition debris in 2018, which the agency itself describes as more than twice the amount of municipal solid waste. Add them together and total U.S. waste generation is about 892.7 million tons. Almost no article answering "how much waste does America produce" includes the larger of the two streams.
Sources: EPA, Construction and Demolition Debris: Material-Specific Data; EPA, National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling
The headline U.S. recycling numbers
These are the figures most articles quote. They all come from a single EPA data series, and they are all measured for calendar year 2018, the most recent year EPA has published. Read the caveats section before treating any of them as current.
- 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste were generated in the United States in 2018. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 4.9 pounds per person per day is the U.S. per capita waste generation rate. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 32.1% of municipal solid waste was recycled or composted, the figure usually quoted as "the U.S. recycling rate." (EPA, 2018 data)
- 69.0 million tons of municipal solid waste were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 24.9 million tons were composted, bringing the combined recycled and composted total to roughly 94 million tons. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 17.7 million tons of food were handled through other pathways such as animal feed, donation, anaerobic digestion and land application. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 34.6 million tons were combusted with energy recovery, about 12% of the waste stream. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 146.1 million tons were landfilled, exactly half of everything generated. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 1.16 pounds per person per day is the average amount each American recycles, plus 0.42 pounds composted. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 193 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent were avoided in 2018 through recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery and landfill practices, which EPA compares to taking almost 42 million cars off the road. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 155 million metric tons of that CO2 benefit came from paper and paperboard recycling alone, equivalent to removing over 33 million cars. (EPA, 2018 data)
How U.S. recycling changed from 1960 to 2018
EPA has tracked the same series since 1960, which makes it the only place to see the long arc. The story is that recycling grew fast until roughly 2005 and has been close to flat since.
- 88.1 million tons of municipal solid waste were generated in 1960, less than a third of the 2018 total. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 2.68 pounds per person per day was the 1960 generation rate, rising to 3.66 by 1980 and 4.74 by 2000. (EPA, 2018 data)
- Just over 6% of municipal solid waste was recycled or composted in 1960. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 10% was the recycling and composting rate in 1980, rising to 16% in 1990. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 29% was the rate by 2000, the period of fastest growth in the entire series. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 35% was the rate in 2017, the highest level EPA has ever recorded. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 94% to 50% is how far the share of waste sent to landfill fell between 1960 and 2018. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 208.3 million tons were generated in 1990, compared with 268.7 million tons in 2017. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 67.6 to 69.0 million tons is how recycled tonnage moved between 2015 and 2018, a 2.2% increase. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 23.4 to 24.9 million tons is how composted tonnage moved over the same 2015 to 2018 period. (EPA, 2018 data)
Recycling rates by material
The single national rate hides enormous variation. Lead-acid car batteries are recycled at 99%. Plastics sit under 9%. Everything below is the share of that material generated in municipal solid waste that was recycled.
- 99% of lead-acid batteries are recycled, the highest rate of any material EPA tracks and unchanged since 2010. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 96.5% of corrugated boxes were recycled, the highest rate of any packaging type. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 68.2% of all paper and paperboard was recycled, up from 42.8% in 2000. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 64.8% of newspapers and mechanical papers were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 63% of yard trimmings were composted, down from 69.4% in 2017. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 70.9% of steel cans were recycled, about 1.1 million tons. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 50.4% of aluminum beer and soft drink cans were recycled, about 0.67 million tons. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 34.9% of all aluminum containers and packaging were recycled, including foil and food containers. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 31.3% of glass containers were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 29.3% of natural HDPE bottles, the milk-jug plastic, were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 29.1% of PET bottles and jars were recycled, the highest rate of any plastic. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 20.8% of paper containers and packaging excluding corrugated boxes were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 18.2% of rubber and leather in municipal solid waste was recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 17.1% of wood in municipal solid waste was recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 14.7% of all textiles were recycled, and just 13% of clothing and footwear. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 8.7% of plastics were recycled, the lowest rate of any major material. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 4.1% of wasted food was composted. (EPA, 2018 data)
What Americans actually recycle most, by weight
Recycling is dominated by cardboard to a degree most people do not expect. These ten product categories accounted for 90% of everything recycled in the United States in 2018.
- 32.1 million tons of corrugated boxes were recycled, by far the largest single stream and roughly half of all U.S. recycling by weight. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 8.8 million tons of mixed nondurable paper products were recycled, the second largest stream. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 3.3 million tons of newspapers and mechanical papers were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 3.1 million tons of major appliances were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 3.1 million tons of wood packaging, mostly pallets, were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 3.0 million tons of glass containers were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 2.9 million tons of lead-acid batteries were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 2.6 million tons of tires were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 1.8 million tons of mixed paper containers and packaging were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 1.0 million tons of selected consumer electronics were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 66.5% of everything recycled in the U.S. by weight is paper and paperboard. Metals are 12.6%, and glass, plastics and wood are each between 4% and 5%. (EPA, 2018 data)
Plastic recycling statistics
Plastics are the fastest growing part of the waste stream and the worst performing on recycling. The tonnage recycled has barely moved in a decade while generation kept climbing.
- 35.7 million tons of plastics were generated in 2018, 12.2% of all municipal solid waste. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 3.09 million tons of plastics were recycled, an 8.7% recycling rate. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 27.0 million tons of plastics went to landfill, 18.5% of everything landfilled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 5.6 million tons of plastics were burned for energy, 16.3% of all combustion. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 14.5 million tons of the plastic generated was containers and packaging, the largest single category. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 3.12 million tons was the all-time peak for U.S. plastic recycling, reached in 2015. It has not been exceeded since. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 8.2% to 12.2% is how plastics grew as a share of the waste stream between 1990 and 2018. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 390,000 tons of plastics were generated in 1960, against 35.7 million tons in 2018, a 91-fold increase. (EPA, 2018 data)[calculated]
- 2% was the plastics recycling rate in 1990. It reached 8% by 2010 and has stayed at 8% to 9% ever since. (EPA, 2018 data)
Metal and scrap recycling statistics
Metals are where recycling actually works at industrial scale, and where the money is. This section pairs EPA municipal waste data with USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, which covers all scrap including industrial and automotive, and is current through 2025.
- $19.7 billion was the value of U.S. iron and steel scrap purchases in 2025, down 4% from $20.4 billion in 2024. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 57 million tons of iron and steel scrap were consumed in the U.S. in 2025, up from 55 million tons in 2024. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 80% to 90% is the range the U.S. scrap steel recycling rate has averaged over the past decade. (USGS, 2025 data)
- Nearly 100% of automobiles are recycled each year, making cars the primary source of old steel scrap. (USGS, 2025 data)
- More than 13 million tons of steel are recycled from automobiles each year, the equivalent of about 17 million cars. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 280+ car shredders operate in North America. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 97% of structural steel from construction is recycled, against 78% for appliances, 74% for all construction end uses, 62% for steel containers and 46% for miscellaneous uses. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 1.1 tons of iron ore plus 0.6 tons of coking coal and 0.05 tons of limestone are conserved for every ton of steel recycled. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 18 million homes could be powered for a year with the energy saved by recycling steel from automobiles. (USGS, 2025 data)
- $319 per metric ton was the estimated 2025 average price for No. 1 heavy melting steel scrap, down from $417.66 in 2021. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 3.6 million tons of aluminum were recovered from purchased scrap in the U.S. in 2025, 56% from manufacturing scrap and 44% from discarded products. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 660,000 tons was estimated U.S. primary aluminum production in 2025, down from 889,000 tons in 2021. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 28% of U.S. apparent aluminum consumption was met by aluminum recovered from old scrap. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 2.2 million tons of aluminum scrap were exported from the U.S. in 2025, against 890,000 tons imported. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 1 million tons of secondary lead were produced in 2025, equivalent to 70% of U.S. apparent consumption, nearly all of it from scrapped lead-acid batteries. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 30% of the U.S. copper supply comes from recycled scrap. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 160,000 tons of copper came from old post-consumer scrap in 2025, plus an estimated 760,000 tons from new manufacturing scrap. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 80% of all copper recovered from scrap is handled by brass and wire-rod mills. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 90 tons of gold were recycled from new and old scrap in 2025, about 60% of reported U.S. consumption. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 19.2 million tons of ferrous metals were generated in municipal solid waste in 2018, of which 6.36 million tons were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 3.89 million tons of aluminum were generated in municipal solid waste, just 1.3% of the total. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 26 million tons of steel scrap were processed by the five leading U.S. processors across 354 facilities in 2023. (USGS, 2025 data)
- 1.01 million tons of aluminum were recycled from municipal solid waste in 1990, more than the 670,000 tons recycled in 2018. Of the eight major materials in EPA's series, aluminum is the only one recycling fewer tons now than in 1990. (EPA, 2018 data)
Paper and glass recycling statistics
Paper is the one genuine success story in U.S. recycling. Glass is the opposite: a material that is infinitely recyclable in theory and stuck at roughly 31% in practice.
- 67.4 million tons of paper and paperboard were generated in 2018, 23.1% of all municipal solid waste and still the largest single material. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 46.0 million tons of paper and paperboard were recycled, two thirds of all U.S. recycling by weight. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 87.7 to 67.4 million tons is how far paper generation fell between 2000 and 2018 as news and office printing moved online. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 17.2 million tons of paper still went to landfill, down from 43.6 million tons in 1990. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 17% was the paper recycling rate in 1960. It passed 43% in 2000 and reached 68% in 2018. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 12.25 million tons of glass were generated in 2018, 4.2% of municipal solid waste. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 3.06 million tons of glass were recycled and 7.55 million tons were landfilled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 15.1 million tons of glass were generated in 1980, more than in 2018, as packaging shifted to plastic and aluminum. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 2% was the glass recycling rate in 1960. It jumped to 20% by 1990 and has moved only between 21% and 28% in the three decades since. (EPA, 2018 data)
Food waste, yard trimmings and textile statistics
Organics are the largest thing Americans throw away, and textiles are the fastest growing. Note that EPA's detailed food figures are for 2019, one year later than the rest of the series, so they are not directly comparable.
- 66.2 million tons of wasted food were generated in 2019 across the food retail, food service and residential sectors. (EPA, 2019 data)
- 39.6 million tons of that wasted food went to landfill, 59.8% of the total. (EPA, 2019 data)
- 9.6 million tons of wasted food went to controlled combustion, 14.6%. (EPA, 2019 data)
- 5.1 million tons of food were donated, 7.8% of the total. (EPA, 2019 data)
- 3.3 million tons of food were composted, just 5.0%. (EPA, 2019 data)
- 4.0 million tons of food went down the drain to sewer and wastewater treatment, 6.0%. (EPA, 2019 data)
- 63.1 million tons of food waste were generated in 2018, 21.6% of municipal solid waste and the largest single material after paper. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 35.4 million tons of yard trimmings were generated, of which 22.3 million tons were composted. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 4.2 to 22.3 million tons is how far yard trimmings composting grew between 1990 and 2018, a more than five-fold increase and the single biggest diversion gain in the data. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 17.0 million tons of textiles were generated in 2018, up from 5.8 million tons in 1990. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 11.3 million tons of textiles were landfilled, against just 2.5 million tons recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 193% is how much textile generation grew from 1990 to 2018, one of the fastest increases of any material. (EPA, 2018 data)[calculated]
- 9.2 million tons of rubber and leather were generated, of which 1.67 million tons were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 18.1 million tons of wood were generated, of which 3.1 million tons were recycled and 12.2 million tons landfilled. (EPA, 2018 data)
Construction and demolition debris
This is the number almost every "how much waste does America produce" article leaves out. Construction and demolition debris is more than twice the size of the entire municipal waste stream, and EPA tracks it separately.
- 600.3 million tons of construction and demolition debris were generated in 2018, which EPA notes is more than twice the amount of municipal solid waste. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 313.1 million tons of that debris went to aggregate, the largest next-use destination. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 143.8 million tons of construction and demolition debris were landfilled. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 131.6 million tons went into manufactured products, material ground, crushed or melted into new goods. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 7.5 million tons were burned as fuel, and 2.5 million tons became compost and mulch. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 135.5 to 600.3 million tons is how construction and demolition debris generation grew between 1990 and 2018. (EPA, 2018 data)
- 892.7 million tons of total U.S. waste is the real figure once construction debris is added to municipal solid waste, roughly three times the number usually quoted. (EPA, 2018 data)[calculated]
E-waste statistics
Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world and the one where collection is falling furthest behind. These are global figures from the joint ITU and UNITAR monitor.
- 62 million tonnes of electronic waste were generated worldwide in 2022. (ITU/UNITAR, 2022 data)
- 22.3% of that e-waste was documented as properly collected and recycled. (ITU/UNITAR, 2022 data)
- $62 billion worth of recoverable natural resources went unaccounted for in the e-waste that was not properly recycled. (ITU/UNITAR, 2022 data)
- 1.55 million trucks of 40 tonnes each would be needed to hold one year of global e-waste, roughly enough to circle the equator bumper to bumper. (ITU/UNITAR, 2022 data)
- 2.6 million tonnes is how much annual global e-waste generation grows each year. (ITU/UNITAR, 2022 data)
- 82 million tonnes of e-waste are projected for 2030, a 33% increase over 2022. (ITU/UNITAR, 2022 data)
- 20% is the projected e-waste recycling rate for 2030, a decline from 22.3% because generation is outrunning collection. (ITU/UNITAR, 2022 data)
- $38 billion is how much the benefits would exceed the costs if the world raised e-waste collection and recycling to 60% by 2030. (ITU/UNITAR, 2022 data)
- 2.7 million tons of selected consumer electronics were generated in U.S. municipal solid waste in 2018, less than 1% of the total, of which 1.0 million tons were recycled. (EPA, 2018 data)
The full 1960 to 2018 series
EPA has tracked the same materials on the same basis since 1960, which makes this the only long-run view of U.S. recycling. Both tables come from EPA's Facts and Figures series.
Recycling and composting rate by material
| Material | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead-acid batteries | Neg. | 76% | 70% | 97% | 93% | 96% | 99% | 99% | 99% | 99% |
| Paper and paperboard | 17% | 15% | 21% | 28% | 43% | 50% | 63% | 67% | 66% | 68% |
| Yard trimmings | Neg. | Neg. | Neg. | 12% | 52% | 62% | 58% | 61% | 69% | 63% |
| Glass | 2% | 1% | 5% | 20% | 23% | 21% | 27% | 28% | 25% | 25% |
| Plastics | Neg. | Neg. | <1% | 2% | 6% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
Recycling and composting as a percentage of generation. "Neg." means less than 5,000 tons or 0.05%. Source: EPA, National Overview.
Tons recycled by material
| Material | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper and paperboard | 5,080 | 6,770 | 11,740 | 20,230 | 37,560 | 41,960 | 44,570 | 45,320 | 44,170 | 45,970 |
| Ferrous metals | 50 | 150 | 370 | 2,230 | 4,680 | 5,020 | 5,800 | 6,070 | 6,170 | 6,360 |
| Glass | 100 | 160 | 750 | 2,630 | 2,880 | 2,590 | 3,130 | 3,190 | 3,070 | 3,060 |
| Plastics | 0 | 0 | 20 | 370 | 1,480 | 1,780 | 2,500 | 3,120 | 3,000 | 3,090 |
| Wood | 0 | 0 | 0 | 130 | 1,370 | 1,830 | 2,280 | 2,660 | 3,030 | 3,100 |
| Textiles | 50 | 60 | 160 | 660 | 1,320 | 1,830 | 2,050 | 2,460 | 2,570 | 2,510 |
| Rubber and leather | 330 | 250 | 130 | 370 | 820 | 1,050 | 1,440 | 1,550 | 1,670 | 1,670 |
| Aluminum | 0 | 10 | 310 | 1,010 | 860 | 690 | 680 | 670 | 600 | 670 |
In thousands of U.S. short tons. A zero means EPA reports no data or a negligible amount. Source: EPA material-specific data pages. These are the eight largest recycled materials and do not sum to the 69.0 million ton national total, which also includes other and miscellaneous inorganic categories.
Measurement caveats worth knowing before you cite
Most errors in recycling coverage come from mixing figures that are not comparable. These are the ones that cause the most trouble.
EPA's national data stops at 2018
EPA's Facts and Figures series is current through calendar year 2018 and has not been updated since. Any 2026 article citing "the current U.S. recycling rate" is quoting an eight-year-old number. It remains the best national figure available, but it is not current, and it should be described as 2018 data.
A recycling rate and a recycled tonnage are not the same claim
A rate is tonnage divided by generation. When generation changes for measurement reasons, the rate moves without any change in recycling. Always check whether a reported decline is in the rate or in the tons.
EPA and USGS metal figures are not interchangeable
EPA measures metals in municipal solid waste only, which is household and commercial trash. USGS measures all scrap, including industrial manufacturing scrap and end-of-life vehicles, which are far larger streams. EPA saying 34.9% of aluminum packaging is recycled and USGS saying scrap supplies 28% of aluminum consumption are answers to different questions.
Recycled does not always mean reprocessed
EPA measures material collected for recycling. It does not track what happens after collection, including material exported or later rejected for contamination. The plastics rate in particular is a collection figure.
The food figures are a different vintage
EPA's detailed wasted-food breakdown covers 2019, one year later than the rest of the series, and uses a broader scope covering food retail, food service and residential sectors. Its 66.2 million ton total is not comparable to the 63.1 million ton food figure in the 2018 municipal waste data.
Global e-waste is measured in metric tonnes
The ITU and UNITAR e-waste figures are in metric tonnes and cover the whole world. EPA figures are in U.S. short tons and cover the United States. Converting between them without saying so is a common error.
Methodology and sources
This page contains 120 statistics drawn from 18 primary sources. Primary means the body that produced the number: a government agency, a national geological survey, or a United Nations programme. No figure here is taken from another statistics page, a press summary, or an aggregator. Where a number could not be traced to a primary release, it was left off.
Almost all figures are published values quoted directly. 3 are arithmetic performed on two published figures and are marked [calculated] in the list above: the 91-fold growth in plastics generation since 1960, the 193% growth in textile generation since 1990, and the 892.7 million ton total U.S. waste figure, which is EPA's municipal solid waste total added to EPA's construction and demolition debris total.
A note on figures that do not reconcile
EPA's wasted-food management table lists nine pathways that sum to 66,216,243 tons against a printed total of 66,216,242 tons, a one-ton difference caused by rounding in the source. We report EPA's printed total. Separately, the eight materials in the tonnage table above do not sum to the 69.0 million ton national recycling total, because EPA's national figure also includes other and miscellaneous inorganic categories that have no dedicated material page.
Primary sources
- EPA, National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling (2018 data)
- EPA, Plastics: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Paper and Paperboard: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Glass: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Aluminum: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Ferrous Metals: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Textiles: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Rubber and Leather: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Wood: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Yard Trimmings: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- EPA, Food: Material-Specific Data (2019 data)
- EPA, Construction and Demolition Debris: Material-Specific Data (2018 data)
- USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Iron and Steel Scrap (2025 data)
- USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Aluminum (2025 data)
- USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Copper (2025 data)
- USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Lead (2025 data)
- USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Gold (2025 data)
- ITU and UNITAR, Global E-waste Monitor 2024 (2022 data)
Gaps we did not fill: U.S. recycling industry employment and establishment counts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes these, but the figures could not be retrieved from a primary release at the time of writing, so they were omitted rather than sourced secondhand. Published 2026-07-21. Last updated 2026-07-21. Free to cite and quote with attribution to RecycleFind and a link to this page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the U.S. recycling rate?
The most recent official figure is 32.1%, covering recycling and composting of municipal solid waste in calendar year 2018. That is the latest year EPA has published, so it is the number to cite, but it should always be described as 2018 data rather than as a current rate. The rate peaked at about 35% in 2017.
What percentage of plastic is actually recycled?
About 8.7% of plastics in U.S. municipal solid waste were recycled in 2018. PET bottles and jars did better at 29.1%, and natural HDPE bottles at 29.3%, but those two categories are a small share of total plastic. U.S. plastic recycling tonnage peaked at 3.12 million tons in 2015 and has not exceeded that since. Note that this measures plastic collected for recycling, not plastic that was successfully reprocessed.
How much waste does the United States produce each year?
About 892.7 million tons, once both streams are counted. Municipal solid waste was 292.4 million tons in 2018 and construction and demolition debris was 600.3 million tons. Most articles quote only the municipal figure, which leaves out the larger of the two.
What is the most recycled material in America?
By weight it is corrugated cardboard, at 32.1 million tons recycled in 2018, roughly half of all U.S. recycling. By rate it is lead-acid car batteries at 99%, followed by corrugated boxes at 96.5%. Paper and paperboard together account for 66.5% of everything Americans recycle by weight.
Which materials have the highest and lowest recycling rates?
Highest: lead-acid batteries at 99%, corrugated boxes at 96.5%, all paper and paperboard at 68.2%, steel cans at 70.9%, and yard trimmings at 63% composted. Lowest: plastics at 8.7%, textiles at 14.7%, wood at 17.1%, and rubber and leather at 18.2%. Glass containers sit in the middle at 31.3%.
Is recycling actually working?
It depends entirely on the material. Metals and paper work at industrial scale: steel scrap recycling runs at 80% to 90%, nearly 100% of cars are recycled, the U.S. produces no primary refined lead at all because recycling covers it, and paper recycling quadrupled its rate since 1960. Plastics and textiles do not work: plastics have been stuck between 8% and 9% since 2010 despite generation rising, and textile generation grew 193% from 1990 to 2018 while recycling stayed near 15%.
How much e-waste does the world produce?
The world generated 62 million tonnes of electronic waste in 2022, of which only 22.3% was documented as properly collected and recycled. That left an estimated $62 billion of recoverable resources unaccounted for. E-waste is growing by 2.6 million tonnes a year and is projected to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030, while the recycling rate is projected to fall to 20%.
How much scrap metal is recycled in the United States?
U.S. iron and steel scrap purchases were worth $19.7 billion in 2025, with about 57 million tons consumed. More than 13 million tons of steel are recycled from automobiles alone each year, the equivalent of roughly 17 million cars processed through more than 280 North American shredders. Aluminum recovered from purchased scrap was about 3.6 million tons, and recycled scrap supplies roughly 30% of the U.S. copper supply.
Why is the EPA recycling data from 2018?
EPA has not published an update to its Advancing Sustainable Materials Management Facts and Figures series since the 2018 data year. It remains the authoritative national source, so it is still the correct thing to cite, but the eight-year lag is why this page pairs it with USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, which is published every January and is current through 2025.
Where these numbers meet the real world
Current scrap metal prices
USGS tracks the national averages. This page tracks what yards are actually paying for copper, aluminum and steel right now.
What is my junk car worth?
Roughly 17 million cars a year become steel scrap. Estimate what yours is worth before you call anyone.
Material recycling guides
The rates above are national averages. These guides cover how each material is actually accepted and processed.
Apartment recycling statistics
One reason the national rate is stuck: only 37% of U.S. apartments have recycling access at all.