Foodservice Packaging and… Landfills / Municipal Solid Waste

The most persistent environmental myth about foodservice packaging concerns its role in the solid waste stream, and particularly that which ends up in landfills. Year after year, data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows that paper and plastic foodservice packaging products make up a tiny portion – under two percent by weight! – of the municipal solid waste sent to landfills in the United States. Compare that to other items that end up in landfills:

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (November 2020) Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2018 Tables and Figures.
Updated March 2021