The average person in Los Angeles throws away 7 kilos of rubbish every day. The average person in the Third World throws away only 1 kilo of rubbish every day. Britain throws away 7 million tonnes of paper every year. That's the same as 80 million trees.
In one year, a European family with two children throws away:
- 50 kilos of paper (that's six trees)
- 60 kilos of metal
- 45 kilos of plastic (that doesn't sound like a lot of plastic, but it is. You need 300,000 supermarket carrier bags to make one tonne).
In one year, the average person throws away 71 food cans, 34 cans of pet food and 68 drinks cans. Britain produces 3.5 billion cans per year. Half are for food and half are for drinks. That's enough to go to the moon and back and half-way to the moon again. England and Wales produce 500 tonnes of rubbish every year. This costs £600 million to collect and bury.