In the first installment of this article, we shared the results of some research that aimed to estimate average recyclable material generation by a single American household. We determined that number to be 866 pounds annually, a total that includes material correctly placed in recycling as well as recyclable material that ends up in the trash. This measurement helps establish a benchmark of ideal recovery for curbside and other residential recycling programs. The benchmark can be easily coupled with data on actual pounds of household recyclables collected per household served in a recycling program to gauge the program's recovery performance. Read the first installment of our data exploration at tinyurl.com/RR-Metrics. Now let's explore how our estimate can help us gain insight into North American materials recovery on a number of levels.
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