• July 31, 2012
• By Jeremy Carroll

California residents threw out 4.4 pounds of garbage per day in 2011, a record low, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) announced.

The rate is calculated by taking the total waste disposed at residential facilities and commercial businesses and dividing that by population. The rate has been calculated since 1989; the state had a high of 6.3 pounds per resident in 2005.

The state's overall diversion rate remains unchanged from 2010 at 65%, CalRecycle said.

"These rates are proof that we have strong and effective resource management efforts in the state," CalRecycle Director Caroll Mortensen said in a statement. "Now we have a new goal: 75% recycling statewide. We're excited to work with local communities and support emerging markets to recycle and divert even more solid waste in the years to come."

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