The table gives information about how much waste was produced in six different countries (given in millions of tonnes) from 1980 to 2000.
Overall, it is clear to see that the US produced more waste than all of Ireland, Japan, Korea, Poland and Portugal combined throughout the period given. Another noticeable trend is that Korea was the only country whose waste output decreased during this period.
Ireland’s waste generation, albeit small with only 0.6 in 1980, increased eightfold to reach 5 million tonnes in 2000. Similarly, Portugal generated 2 million tonnes of waste in 1980 and this number more than doubled by the first year of the 21st century, reaching 5 million.
Japan, Poland and the US saw a similar increasing trend in waste production. Japan’s output went up from 28 to 53 and Poland’s 4 to 6.6. Interestingly, the waste generation in the US was the highest with 131 in 1980 and it was still the highest with 192 in 2000. However, the only country that experienced a decline in garbage production was that of Korea, it decreased from 31 to 19 by the end of the period