Page 651 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

1. Suppose your town of 50,000 people has just approved 3. The same study showed that the average resident of a
construction of a landfill nearby. Estimates are that it low-income nation generates 1.17 pounds of waste per
will accommodate 1 million tons of MSW. Assuming the day and that the average resident of a high-income nation
landfill is serving only your town, and that your town’s generates 2.64 pounds per day. Why do you think U.S.
residents generate waste at the U.S. average rate, for how residents generate so much more MSW than people in
many years will it accept waste before filling up? How other “high-income” countries, when standards of living
much longer would a landfill of the same capacity serve a in those countries are comparable?
town of the same size in Missouri?
2. One recent study estimated that the average world citizen
generates 1.47 pounds of trash per day. How many times
more does the average U.S. citizen generate?

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