Waste in the United States Waste in the United States As a nation, Americans generate more waste than any other nation in the world, officially with 4.4 pounds (2.0 kg) of municipal solid waste (MSW) per person per day, with another study estimating 7.1 pounds per capita per day. Fifty five percent of this waste is contributed as residential garbage, while the remaining forty five percent of waste in the U.S.'s ‘waste stream' comes from manufacturing, retailing, and commercial trade in the U.S. economy. Based on proprietary data released to the public, Nevada was named America's "Most Wasteful State" for the years 2005-2010; where each
Per capita Per capita Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: "per" (preposition, taking the accusative case, meaning "by means of") and "capita" (accusative plural of the noun "caput", "head"). The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e., per individual/person. The term is used in a wide variety of social sciences and statistical research contexts, including government statistics, economic indicators, and built environment studies. It is commonly and usually used in the field of statistics in place of saying "per person" (although "per caput" is the Latin for "per head"). It is also used in wills to indicate that