The table illustrates how much waste was produced (in millions of tonnes) in six distinct nations over a twenty – year interval, commencing in 1980.
Overall, it is evident that the US produces the largest amount of waste over the period shown. Additionally, all countries witnessed an upward trend, except for Korea.
Between 1980 and 2000, the amount of wastes produced by the US was the largest at 131 million tonnes in 1980, after which there was a significant increase of 61 million tonnes in 2000. Similarly, Japan saw a considerable rise in its waste output approximately double in 2000. During the same period, the production of waste in Poland and Portugal climbed by 2.6 and 3 million tonnes respectively.
The trends for Ireland and Korea were noticeably different. In Ireland, waste production rose more than eightfold, from only 0.6 million tonnes in 1980 to 5 million tonnes in 2000. By contrast, there was a significant decline in Korea’s waste output, from 31 million tonnes in 1990 to only 19 million tonnes in 2000.