Spring cleaning time is here and a lot of us are throwing more away than we usually do. Californians have more access to recycling than most states, but the percentage of what gets recycled is just 37%.
RELATED: One major Bay Area city is particularly bad at recycling. City staff have a hands-on idea for how to turn it around.
Every state but one, Montana, has at least something banned from disposal in its solid waste facilities — at minimum lead-acid batteries, as is the case in Arizona and Wyoming. Twenty-seven states have at least one mandatory recycling requirement.
Delaware has the highest percentage of households with access to recycling at 97%. Maryland is next with 96%.
California:
- 95% of all households can recycle
- 94% are curbside
North Dakota has the highest percentage of households that cannot recycle at 66%. You can read the full 2024 report from the Recycling Partnership here. You can find information on the benefits or recycling from the Environmental Protection Agency here.
California recycling for materials compared to the rest of the U.S.:
95% of Californians have recycling access, but the recycling rate is 37%.
California has the most tonnage of recyclable material that is lost.
Confidence in recycling is in decline
A 2022 Recycling Confidence survey showed a lack of public trust in recycling. Fewer than half of those surveyed for the Index said they believe the items they place in their recycling bin are made into new products and very few people (17%) feel well-informed about what happens to their recycling.
A lot to the landfill
California has the most waste in landfills of any state, and more than 800 million tons more than the state with the second-highest waste in landfills (Texas). Here’s a look at the per capita breakdown:
Rank Population and Waste in landfills per capita, 2022
- Michigan 10,034,113 66.5
- Indiana 6,833,037 59.9
- Illinois 12,582,032 54.8
- Pennsylvania 12,972,008 57.4
- Ohio 11,756,058 52.4
- Wisconsin 5,892,539 51.8
- California 39,029,342 50.4
- Nevada 3,177,772 48.4
- Colorado 5,839,926 47
- Kentucky 4,512,310 46.3
U.S. overall 333,287,557 39.7
Sources: United States Environmental Protection Agency, Landfill Methane Outreach Program, The Recycling Partnership