Every year, 2.1 billion tons of solid waste is generated on the planet. This is enough to fill 822,000 Olympic-size pools. Of these, only 16% are recycled completely. This concludes a report by Verisk Maplecroft, quoted by bTV.

The United States leads the ranking as the most inefficient country in terms of production-recycling ratio.

The waste generation index, which includes household waste, plastic, food and hazardous waste, shows that one American produces 773 kg. garbage per year, which is 12% of those 2.1 billion tonnes, and the United States represents only 4% of the world's population.

27% come from China and India, which account for 36% of the Earth's population. 

Americans produce three times more garbage than Chinese and seven times more than Ethiopia. Since America has the largest economy in the world, it is not surprising that it produces the most waste. The worrying thing is that there is no initiative for this waste to be reworked.

Interestingly, developed European economies, as well as Canada, are also among the leaders in the negative rating. This includes the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France and even Australia. Britain is 14th and generates 482kg of household waste every year, and recycles only 44%.

America loves to produce but not to recycle. Only 35% of the junk produced goes to landfills for processing.

Germany recycles 68% and is ranked first in this indicator globally.

The study adds that China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia have completely banned the import of solid waste, including tons of plastic.

In May this year, almost the whole world, excluding the US, agreed to restrict supplies of hard-plastic.

Such policies will seriously affect countries like America, precisely because of the inability to cope with recycling.

The top 10 places in the population-generated waste list fall - China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Germany and Turkey.

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