Recyclable Material Volume

Find out how much recyclable material your household produces each year and each month — useful for planning bins, collection frequency or a trip to the recycling center.

How the calculation works

The method is straightforward: total waste per year = number of people × kilograms per person per day × 365. The recyclable share is then applied to that total — the part of household waste that can go to recycling: paper and cardboard, plastic packaging, glass, and metal such as steel cans and aluminum.

Inputs are household size (1–20 people), waste per person per day in kilograms (default 1.1 kg) and the recyclable share in percent (default 40%). The headline result is recyclable mass in kg per year; the calculator also shows total waste per year and recyclables per month.

Despite the word “volume” in the title, the result is a mass, not liters. That is deliberate: weight does not depend on whether you crush bottles and flatten boxes, and recycling programs and waste statistics are reported by weight. Multiply by 2.2 if you want pounds.

Worked example

A household of 3 people, each producing 1.1 kg of waste per day (the defaults). Per year: 3 × 1.1 × 365 = 1,204.5 kg of waste. With a 40% recyclable share, that is 1,204.5 × 0.4 = 481.8 kg of recyclables a year, or about 40.2 kg a month (roughly 1,060 lb a year).

Things to keep in mind

• To get your own daily figure, weigh your trash for a week and divide by the number of days and people. The World Bank’s What a Waste 2.0 report puts the global average at about 0.74 kg per person per day; packaging-heavy urban households often produce more.
• Estimate the recyclable share from your own bins. Households that cook a lot at home generate more food scraps, which lowers the packaging share.
• Light packaging is bulky: a few kilograms of uncrushed plastic bottles and cardboard can fill a large bag, while a kilogram of glass takes little space. Keep that in mind when sizing bins.
• Not everything labeled plastic or paper is accepted. Greasy pizza boxes, multilayer pouches and receipts often belong in the trash — check your local program’s rules.