The pie charts illustrate the proportions of various types of waste disposal in a specific nation in 1960 and 2011.
Overall, while people threw away less paper, textiles, and other types of waste, the opposite was true in the case of food, wood, plastic, and metal. It is also clear that the percentage of green waste and glass disposal remained unchanged over five decades.
In terms of the proportion of food, wood, plastic, and metal, which experienced an upward trend, albeit at varying degrees. In 1960, wood was the least discarded material, with only 4% being disposed before undergoing a twofold increase over a period of 51 years. The percentage of food and plastic saw the most noticeable growth, with the former starting at 12% and ending at 21%, while the latter accounting for 8% in 1960 and 18% in 2011. Meanwhile, the percentage of metal disposal increased from 8% to 9% after 51 years from 1960.
Turning to the categories, whose figures declined over time, 25% of paper was discarded but this figure fell by 15% in 2011. Other types of waste and textile followed a similar pattern, but to a lesser extent, with a drop of 8% and 6% from 12% and 17%, respectively.
With regard to glass and green waste, these types of disposal shared constant figures over the period. The percentage of green waste disposal comprised 9%, 4% higher than that of glass.