Variation in municipal solid waste generation and management across time and space

The management of municipal solid waste can have major environmental impacts. However, waste generation patterns have generally not been thoroughly analyzed, leading to an overall poor understanding of waste generation trends. Here, we quantify changes in waste generation that occur on different scales: from day-to-day, season-to-season, year-to-year, and over relatively small geographic areas using a well-defined residential waste stream data set. Findings indicate greater waste generation and disposal amounts on weekends versus weekdays, and summer compared to winter, and a monotonic decline in waste generation from 2004 to 2017, resulting in decreases in disposal and waste generation rates of more than 25 %. Waste generation and disposal rates decrease and recycling increases with greater levels of education, income, and house values, and ethnicity differences also correlate to waste management patterns. More informed understanding of the nature of waste generation patterns can improve overall waste management practices and planning, potentially leading to better public policies addressing broader issues in resource management and climate change.