"According to a study by Columbia University, Americans trash seven pounds of material per person every single day—that’s 2,555 pounds of material per American every year.
A staggering 90 percent of all raw materials extracted in the U.S. are ultimately dumped into landfills or burned in incinerators. Those materials should be reused to make new products, but because they’re destroyed, more and more natural resources are extracted every day." (data from a 2018 article - for more information see https://uspirg.org/blogs/blog/usp/america-has-trash-problem)
We humans are a wasteful lot, that's for sure, and it's very disheartening to say the least. I do wish we would put a premium on recycling efforts. We have very little trash in our house, but it's still too much IMHO. We should all strive to do better...
