A better way to measure waste reduction

How Can You Win
at Waste Reduction
If You're Not Keeping Score?

Tracking the recyclables is broken. The data is often stale, double-counted, and misses everything that actually matters: reducing reusing and repairing. There is a simpler, faster, more accurate metric — Garbage Per Capita, the pounds of garbage per person per day disposed at the landfill of all commercial, industrial, and residential garbage.

7.18 lbs/person/day
Texas GPC (2001)
7.25 lbs/person/day
Texas GPC (2023)
20 years Texas GPC has barely changed in 20 years, yet some Texas cities throw away half that amount per person per day.
See the Solution Join the Movement
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The Problem

Recycling Metrics Are Failing Us

Every year, cities and corporations spend enormous resources tracking recyclables. Is the goal to measure the largest pile of recyclables or the smallest pile of garbage? Here are a few reasons tracking recyclables isn't moving the needle to reduce waste.

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Double-Counting

The hauler, the recycler, the MRF, and the end processor all report the same tons separately. This can lead to inaccurate data.

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Misses What Matters

Thrift stores, mattress refurbishers, repair shops, reuse centers, reduce practices — none of this shows up in recycling metrics. You're blind to half the solution.

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Expensive to Track

Recycling tracking software costs $10,000+ plus labor. And after all that time and expense you still do not know how much garbage your county generated.

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Texas County Data Is Wrong

TCEQ assigns all landfill tonnage to the county where the landfill sits — not where the waste came from. Counties have no way of calculating their garbage per capita.

The Solution

Garbage Per Capita: Simple, Fast, Complete

Garbage Per Capita ideally measures all the commercial, industrial, and residential garbage disposed in a landfill by jurisdiction — not what theoretically got diverted from it. It works exactly like the metrics that already drive conservation in water and energy:

Garbage Per Capita =
Total Tons × 2,000 lbs Population × 365 days

Result: pounds per person per day

  • Same proven logic as gallons per capita per day (water conservation)
  • Same proven logic as kWh per capita (energy conservation)
  • Captures reduce, reuse, and repair — not just recycling
  • Works for cities, counties, corporations, and campuses
  • Creates a scoreboard that drives healthy competition and motivates a change in behavior

"If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it."

For Corporations

GPC scales to any business metric:

  • lbs per meal served (food service)
  • lbs per hotel occupancy (hospitality)
  • lbs per unit manufactured (production)
  • lbs per square foot (office/retail)

The Three-Word Fix

For Texas legislators: adding "jurisdiction of origin" to Section 361.013(d) of the Health and Safety Code fixes the broken data pipeline — at no significant taxpayer cost.

The Proof

Five Cities. Five Years. Real Results.

The North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) landfill was built by five cities. These five cities have access to their garbage tonnage data. This tonnage data allows each city to calculate their own garbage per capita using the formula shared on "the solution" page of this website. A friendly competition has occurred between these cities, motivating the City of Richardson to reduce their waste by 16%.

GPC Trend: NTMWD Cities (lbs/person/day, FY2019–FY2023)

The Richardson Effect

In 2019, Richardson ranked last among the five cities at 5.23 lbs/person/day. In 2020, a magazine article by Barbara Coombs published the GPC rankings publicly. Richardson saw the data, responded — and cut their garbage by 14–18% over five years, moving from last place to 4th. No mandate. No fine. Just a number people could see.

"Lowest Garbage Per Capita = Lowest Unemployment" — when cities compete on GPC, everyone wins.

16–18% Richardson's waste reduction in 5 years
10% McKinney's reduction while population grew
3.24 Frisco's GPC — best in North Texas
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California Already Did This — In 2010

In 2010, California passed SB 1016 to switch from tracking recycling to tracking garbage tonnage by city. Our most recent data is showing that this law was not enforced, though it uncovered which programs were the most effective at reducing waste in the beginning. In Texas, we want to keep it simple and just change three words in a regulation that is already on the books — for landfills to report their tonnage data to TCEQ by "jurisdiction of origin." The impact of this will create a scoreboard for all counties, a simple change that reduces the need for other complicated and costly recycling regulation. This will allow all 254 counties in the State of Texas to calculate their Garbage per Capita and then develop programs to extend the life of the landfills and increase employment through waste diversion. One company's waste is another's feedstock — i.e.: construction demolition recycling, etc.

Why It Works

Seven Reasons GPC Beats Recycling Metrics

01

Creates a scoreboard for a friendly competition

Creating a scoreboard increases communication between counties to improve their waste reduction and reuse programs - increasing jobs. Without heavy handed regulation or mandates.

02

Scales to Any Industry

  • Business lbs/employee
  • Restaurant lbs/meal served
  • Manufacturing lbs/widget
  • Hotel lbs/occupancy
03

Captures Reduce & Reuse

Thrift stores, repair shops, mattress refurbishers — all invisible in recycling metrics, all captured in GPC.

04

Individual Accountability

A per capita or per person number creates personal responsibility that volume data on recycling cannot do. We are not trying to create a large pile of recycling - we are aiming for a small pile of garbage.

05

Reduces Single-Use Items

When GPC is the metric, businesses are incentivized to cut waste at the source, not just sort it differently.

06

Rewards Correct Recycling

Contaminated recycling that ends up landfilled shows up as higher GPC — giving cities a direct incentive to recycle right.

07

Proven in Water & Energy

Water and energy conservation are already measured with per capita data. Let's get on the same page.

The Economic Case

Don't Throw Jobs Away

Waste reduction isn't just an environmental issue — it's an economic one. Every ton diverted from the landfill creates jobs at a rate that landfilling simply cannot match.

Jobs Created per 10,000 Tons per Year

Source: Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)

10×

more jobs in the reuse sector than from landfilling

$5B

estimated annual landfill cost in Texas ($700K/acre × infrastructure) based on disposal of 40 million tons of garbage in Texas per year.

12.7 MMT

CO₂e emitted by Texas landfills in 2024 — a measurable, reducible number

Carbon Credit Opportunity: GPC reduction is verifiable CO₂e reduction. Every city or corporation that cuts GPC creates a measurable, auditable carbon credit opportunity — with the data to back it up.

Take Action

Here's How You Can Move This Forward

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County Recycling Coordinators

  • Calculate your city's GPC and see how you compare to peers
  • Request jurisdiction-of-origin data from your landfill operator. Cities can extrapolate the city data from the county data, based on their percentage of the population. There are 254 counties in Texas, but close to 2,000 cities — do not overwhelm the landfills, work with them. We want to extend the life of the landfill.
  • Advocate for GPC-based reporting in your regional COG
  • Join the network of coordinators sharing best practices
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Legislators & Staff

  • HB 4244, introduced in the 89th Texas Legislature, died in committee — but the need remains. Please support similar legislation that requires landfills to report tonnage by jurisdiction of origin.
  • Three words: add "jurisdiction of origin" to Health & Safety Code §361.013(d)
  • Connect with constituents already seeing results in North Texas
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Corporate Sustainability Directors

  • Establish a GPC baseline for your facilities today
  • Set reduction targets in lbs/unit — a metric your operations team can own
  • Report GPC alongside water and energy in your ESG disclosures
  • Explore carbon credit opportunities tied to verified GPC reduction
Get Involved

Join the Garbage Per Capita Movement

We're building a coalition of cities, legislators, and corporations committed to data-driven waste reduction. Sign up to receive updates, data resources, and opportunities to shape policy.

About

Barbara Eastwood Coombs

Barbara is a former paper broker and Commercial Recycling Coordinator for the City of San Jose, CA — where she led the city to a 64% recycling rate in 1998. She has also served as a manufacturer's rep for optical scanners to the recycling industry and has been invited to speak at SWANA, STAR, and NRC. She is currently an independent waste diversion consultant.

She has presented GPC to TCEQ's Municipal Solid Waste Advisory Council, met with three TCEQ Commissioners, and has worked with legislators in both the 88th and 89th Texas Legislatures to advance GPC-based measurement.

Barbara's driving insight: we already adopted per-capita measurement for water and energy — it's time to do the same for waste.

Contact: evbllc@gmail.com  |  512-633-5202  |  LinkedIn
Barbara Eastwood Coombs — former Commercial Recycling Coordinator and advocate for Garbage Per Capita measurement
"Good data leads to great decisions. Texas has been making waste policy without good data for 22 years. We can fix that with three words."
— Barbara Eastwood Coombs