Raccoons are well known for their affinity for garbage (the internet calls them “trash pandas” for a reason), but in reality humans stand out as the trashiest animals on Earth. The average American produced 4.9 pounds of trash a day in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and globally we produce 4.5 trillion pounds per year.
This waste ends up in the oceans, in our own bodies, in overflowing landfills — where it causes a variety of issues, from toxic chemical leaching to garbage landslides — and it’s accumulating constantly. “We’re expecting waste to increase by 73 percent by 2050,” says Silpa Kaza, senior urban development specialist at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
