A study by the Environmental Protection Agency showed Carbon County residents generated an estimated 39,900 tons of trash in the past year, including 5,700 tons of food scraps.

The study included the annual output of such items as discarded beverage cans, paper products, garbage, plastic containers, rubber tires, food and broken appliances.

The average disposal rate of the area, assuming local residents generate solid waste materials on the same scale as most other people in the United States, is 4.1 pounds per capita daily, the EPA report states.

If the combustible waste products could be converted to energy, the county total could produce about 54,700 barrels of oil annually, it adds.