News

Jul 17, 2023

Average New Bedford Household Tosses This Much Trash Annually

How often do you visit the trash and recycling bins outside your house? If it's once a day or once every other day, imagine how much household waste you dispose of each year. The Massachusetts

How often do you visit the trash and recycling bins outside your house? If it's once a day or once every other day, imagine how much household waste you dispose of each year.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection estimates that the average New Bedford household tossed between 1,751 and 2000 pounds of trash in 2021. The same was true in Acushnet, Fall River, Mattapoisett and Rochester.

Folks in Fairhaven and Middleborough chucked between 1,501 and 1,750 pounds of trash in 2021, while those in Dartmouth, Marion, Swansea and Wareham disposed of between 1,001 and 1,250 pounds per household.

Freetown, Lakeville, Dighton and Taunton residents threw away 1,251 to 1,500 pounds of garbage in 2021.

Westport residents tossed the least trash in 2021 – only 751 to 1,000 pounds per household.

Many communities across the commonwealth dispose of much more trash annually than those in southeastern Massachusetts. There is a notable exception: folks in Provincetown tossed 2,001 to 2,500 pounds of household waste in 2021.

Pittsfield, Springfield, Fitchburg, Framingham, Walpole, Brockton, Braintree, Lynn, Lawrence and Lowell are among dozens of towns and cities that disposed of as much as 2,500 pounds of trash per household in 2021.

The numbers have declined dramatically since 2011 when New Bedford households disposed of greater than 2,250 pounds and Fall River 2,001 to 2,250 pounds of garbage annually.

According to MassDEP, the data is provided by municipal officials in the submission of the municipality's Annual Recycling and Solid Waste Survey.

The MassDEP website provides information about how it manages the many tons of solid waste generated in Massachusetts.