WASTE RECYCLING RATES IN THE US (1960-2011)

The line graph illustrates data about the recycling of waste in percentage conducted in the US, including
the waste recovery in million tons from 1960 to 2011. Overall, although the early years witnessed a
minimal amount of waste recycled and recovered, the practices were significantly adopted from 1985
onwards. Another striking feature is that surveyed figures of the two practices saw a considerable rise
from 1985 to 2011.

Data showed that in 1960, 5.6 million tons of rubbish were recovered, and 6,4 percent of waste was
recycled, which was the least figures examined. Continuing to observe the chart, we can see that while
the percentage of recycled waste in 1965 slightly declined by 0,2%, the amount of recovered waste
gradually increased to approximately 6.5 million tons. After 25 years, the quantity of waste reprocessing
in the country was modest, with more than 16 million tons of recovery garbage, and almost 10% of trash
was recycled.

As can be seen from the chart, from 1990 to 2000 the amount of waste recovery sharply went up
fourfold to nearly 70 million tons. Similarly, the recycled waste proportion continued to grow
moderately at 30%. By the end of the period, while the amount of recovery waste was reached a peak at
nearly 90 million tons, the amount of recycled waste still increased steadily to approximately 35%