U.S. Municipal Solid Waste Generation and Disposal Data for 2018

2018 data on publicly reported municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, recycling, and disposal across U.S. states, compiled via web search. The dataset is associated with a 2023 journal publication analyzing waste estimation methods for circular economy policy. It is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Use Cases

• Analyze variability in MSW generation and disposal figures across different state reporting practices.
• Compare recycling rates and disposal methods for municipal solid waste using the reported 2018 data.
• Use the MSW data to evaluate trade-offs in national waste estimation methods as referenced in the associated publication.
• Study the relationship between state-level reporting practices and the availability of generation, recycling, and disposal metrics.

Strengths

• Data is associated with a peer-reviewed 2023 publication in the Journal of Cleaner Production.
• Covers three key MSW metrics: generation, recycling, and disposal for policy-relevant analysis.
• Sourced from the authoritative U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Limitations

• Specific data availability varies significantly due to differences in state reporting practices.
• The dataset is focused on a single target year (2018), limiting longitudinal analysis.
• The exact structure, row count, and column definitions are unknown, complicating direct analysis.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Collection Method

Collected via web search of publicly reported state data.

Time Range

Target year is 2018.

Freshness

Last updated in August 2023.

Geography

United States (state-level).