Email to Cornell Waste Management Institute

March 27, 2007

To: ‘cwmi@cornell.edu’

 

My son’s school seems to be using your materials in their education, and one of the statistics “the US generates 50% of the world’s garbage” is currently posted on my son’s classroom door. I find the statistic questionable, since according to various news sources, in 2005, the USA generated 245 million tons of municipal garbage (large attributed to the EPA), while Ireland, with a much smaller population, generated over 300 million tons of municipal waste. I can also find no central source of waste generation by country.

Please let me know the sources and the basis of the statistic in question. It’s possible it has been taken out of context, but if so it is being presented out of that context within your materials and in our schools.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Bickford