According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2010 (to date, the latest figures), Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and composted over 85 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.1 percent recycling rate. On average, they recycled and composted 1.51 pounds out of our individual waste generation of 4.43 pounds per person per day. In general, the total amount of waste is distributed as follows: Paper and paperboard (38 percent); yard waste (12.1 percent); food wastes (10.9 percent); plastics (10.5 percent); metals (7.8 percent); glass (5.5 percent); wood (5.3 percent); textiles (3.9 percent); other waste (3.2 percent); rubber and leather (2.7 percent).