What does New York do with all that trash? One city's waste – in numbers

The Big Apple generates more than 14 million tonnes of rubbish a year, and spends around $2.3bn disposing of it – sometimes 7,000 miles away in China. Max Galka counts the costs of a city literally built on trash

As the largest city in the world’s most wasteful country, New York generates more than 14 million tonnes of trash each year; reputedly (though possibly inaccurately) more than any other city in the world.

Not only that, New York is also America’s densest city: its narrow, traffic jammed streets make collecting all that garbage a logistical Gordian knot. And New York is located smack in the centre of the Northeast megalopolis, a giant urban expanse where available land for disposing of garbage is in short supply.

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Source: Guardian Environment