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Calculate your waste
In 2005, it was estimated that the average King County resident generates 17 pounds of garbage per week. How much waste does your household generate? The answer might surprise you.
Calculate
Enter the number of people in your household:
Your household garbage generation is:
Think you generate more or less?
Why not do an experiment? Weigh your family's garbage bags on a scale for two weeks, then figure out a weekly and yearly generation average through this exercise from Earth Day Canada's EcoKids Web site external link .
Seems like a lot?
Find out what you can do to make sure our resources aren't wasted.
How do we compare to the rest of the nation?
According to the Environmental Protection Agency external link , in 2003 total U.S. waste generation was 236 million tons, or about 4.5 pounds per person per day and about 31.5 pounds per person per week. King County's average is much lower than the national average because King County residents already do a lot of great recycling.
What happens to my recyclables?
Materials collected for recycling in King County become new products, many of them manufactured locally. This 10-minute video shows how the recycling loop works: from collection to remanufacture to new product.
Cascade recycling center slide show
Most of King County´s recyclables go to the Cascade Recycling Center external link in Woodinville, Washington, where they are separated, baled and shipped to various re-manufacturers to be made into new products
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