Which States are the Worst at Going Green?

Changing people’s recycling habits can take many years, since people have different “levels of greenness”. According to the article, “Are all consumers ready to ‘go green’?”, people have different attitudes about both their desire and need to become more environmentally concerned and aware.

Many states and cities are launching recycling campaigns to help educate consumers about the importance of recycling – and to create awareness of the importance of recycling.

Some of the tools used for these go green campaigns are television commercials, billboard ad, radio commercials and eco-friendly promotional products–given out to school children during community outreach programs.

But not all campaigns are as effective as possible. How do individual states rank in respect to their recycling efforts? According to the report, “Do Mess With It“, by Steve Spacek, residents of many Northeastern states do the best job of recycling, as they had the least amount of per capita waste disposal.

Here is the entire list, in order of the state with the least amount of waste to the most wasteful state. The number beside the state’s name represents the daily per capita waste thrown away in pounds, according to 2002 numbers.

1.Connecticut 0.4510
2.Vermont  0.5840
3. Maine  1.0348
4. Massachusetts  1.4575
5. New York  1.5250
6. New Jersey 2.4698
7 Minnesota 2.5871
8. Maryland 2.9465
9. Hawaii 3.6754
10. Idaho  4.4523
11. Missouri  4.6106
12. Washington  4.9711
13. Florida  5.2001
14. South Dakota  5.3127
15. Montana  5.3165
16. Alaska  5.4872
17. Alabama  6.1666
18. Louisiana  6.2151
19. Delaware  6.2535
20. West Virginia  6.3716
21. Iowa  6.4104
22. Rhode Island 6.6646
23. Georgia  6.6713
24. California  6.7999
25. Nebraska  6.8072
26. Oklahoma  6.9690
27. Wyoming  7.2168
28. Texas  7.2457
29. New Hampshire  7.3430
30. North Carolina  7.4116
31. Arkansas  7.5971
32. Mississippi  7.8556
33. Colorado  7.9048
34. Tennessee  8.2213
35. Illinois  8.4773
36. Ohio  8.7336
37. Utah  8.8063
38. Kansas  8.9314
39. Arizona  8.9871
40. Virginia  9.0122
41. Oregon  9.0161
42. Wisconsin  9.4417
43. North Dakota  9.4650
44. Indiana  9.7873
45. Kentucky  9.9515
46.South Carolina  10.2101
47. Michigan  10.4388
48. Pennsylvania  12.9517
49.New Mexico  15.6367
50. Nevada 16.9415

If states and cities can aim for a reasonable annual reduction rate, say 10% per year, and continue their outreach programs despite budget limitations, a higher level of participation will certainly be achieved.

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Some friends and I on the Maah Daah Hey Trail in North Dakota.
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