The table illustrates how much waste was produced in six distinct countries, namely Ireland, Japan, Korea, Poland, Portugal, and the US over a span of twenty years, in 1980, 1990 and 2000.
Overall, it is clear that waste production highlighted the highest volume in the US by the end of the period, whereas waste production of Ireland was the lowest rate. The waste production in Japan ranked second after the US in 2000.
Looking at the details in more depth, the US was the leading waste producer, at 131 million tonnes in 1980. By contrast, Ireland witnessed the reversed pattern, at 0.6 million tonnes. It is also apparent that the waste production of Japan was in the second place, at 28 million tonnes, followed by Poland and Portugal registering 4 and 2 million tonnes waste production, respectively. Interestingly, the rate for Korea was not available in the beginning of the period.
It is evident that the waste production in the US increased by 20 million tonnes in 1990, at 151 million tonnes, meanwhile Japan grew by 5 million tonnes, at 32 million tonnes. Moreover, Poland and Portugal rose marginally at 5 and 3 million tonnes, respectively. Notably, the highest change was seen in Korea and it increased sharply at 31 million tonnes in 1990 and figure of Ireland was not available in that year.
Nevertheless, the waste production of the US increased dramatically and registered the highest pattern at 192 million tonnes in the final year, followed by Japan reaching 53 million tonnes. In stark comparison, there was decline in Korea from 31 million tonnes to 19 million tonnes. Ireland and Portugal recorded the same figure of 5 million tonnes in 2000, and the waste production of Poland rose marginally from 5 million tonnes to 6.6 million tonnes by the end of the period.