The chart compares the proportion of waste that were produced in six nations in the years 1980, 1990 and 2000.
Overall, the US figure was the highest throughout the period. While Ireland, Japan, Poland, Portugal and the US witnessed an upward trend, Korea waste production generally decreased.
Between 1980 and 1990, trash output in the US rose from 131 to 151 million tonnes, followed by Japan with an increase from 28 million tonnes in 1980 to 32 million tonnes in 1990. Korea’s waste output went up slightly from 28 million tonnes to 31 million tonnes during the decade starting by 1980. It is also noticeable that Ireland, Portugal and Poland had the most stable and slowest growing rubbish production volumes of all countries, just under 5 million tonnes.
Over the next 10 years, from 1990 to 2000, Korea’s waste volume dropped significantly to 19 tonnes. The figure for Japan continued rose to 53 million tonnes and still trailed the US with 192 million tonnes. Ireland and Portugal had similar trash output, reaching 5 million tonnes by 2000. Poland was steady increased from 5 million tonnes in 1990 to 6.6 million tonnes in 2000.