I am not good at these kinds of problems, so if anyone could show me how to do this, it would be great.

Question

Currently, there are about 270 million people in the U.S. The EPA set a goal of 35% of solid waste recylced by the year 2009. The estimate is that by then, the average person in the U.S. will generate about 4.3 pounds of solid waste daily. If that goal is met, how many pounds of solid waste will ne recycled in the year 2009?
Round your answer to the NEAREST BILLION of pounds.
(Talk about a distusting topic)

THANKS!

Answer 1

This problem almost does itself, disgusting or not. You won't get "good at these kinds of problems" unless you try.

Multiply the population by the waste produced per person. That, quite obviously, is the amount of garbage produced. Then take 35% of that as the amount that will be recycled if the goal is met. Then do the rounding off.

Answer 2

First, you need to multiply 270 by 4.3 to find the total number of pounds of waste generated.

270 million * 4.3 = 1161 million pounds

Next, multiply 1,161 million by 365 days.
1,161,000,000 * 365 = 423,765,000,000

Then multiply by 0.35.
423,765,000,000 * 35 = 148,317,750,000

That rounds to 148 billion pounds.

1161 million * 0.35 = 406.35 million pounds

Answer 3

Oops -- please ignore the last line. It's incorrect.

Your answer should be about 148 billion pounds.

Answer 4

Thank You both. I appreciate it. :)

Answer 5

You're very welcome.