Municipal solid waste landfilled in the U.S. 1960-2018, by material
By weight, food is the most landfilled material in the United States' municipal solid waste stream, with 35.3 million tons discarded in 2018. Paper and paperboard was once the most landfilled MSW material, but increased recycling over the years has seen the amount of paper and paperboard sent to landfills drop by 60 percent since 1990. The increasing demand for plastics since the 1960's has seen the volume of this material landfilled increase from 0.39 million tons to 27 million tons. Despite the growth of recycling and combustion with energy recovery, landfilling remains the main waste disposal method in the U.S.
