Product packaging adds up to 30% of solid waste total
Many “products” actually are packaging, a quickly discarded barrier between the product and the consumer. Packaging makes up an estimated 30 percent of the municipal solid waste stream, but less than half of all packaging is recycled.
Organic Waste
In Washington State, more than a third of waste going to the landfill is green waste and food waste. Both can be composted by one means or another, and can become useful rather than buried in a landfill.
A lot of garbage a few places to go
San Juan County is among ten counties (and the city of Seattle) in Washington sending garbage to the Columbia Ridge Landfill in northeastern Oregon.
Twenty of the total of 39 counties in Washington State send solid waste to Roosevelt Regional Landfill, which also accepts tonnage from Alaska, Canada, and Oregon.