Atlanta has topped the list for the country's most wasteful cities, beating out Dallas, Indianapolis, Houston and St. Louis as the no. 1 jerk.

The honor comes from the Nalgene Least Wasteful City Study, who ranked the country’s 25 largest metropolitan areas on wasteful behavior, such as recycling, the use of public transportation, shutting off lights and eating leftovers.

The big conclusion from the study? The cities that made it convenient to be nonwasteful -- like using public transportation -- had more folks trying their best.

In Atlanta, where Marta is terribly inconvenient, and could likely go to only five days a week, completely screwing over everyone who does use it. Recycling is also an inconvenience in this town. The city only picks it up every other week, leading to large piles of wine bottles, newspapers and cardboard boxes. For some, it's even difficult to get recycling picked up as the city tends to lag in delivering the black plastic tubs needed for it to even be picked up.

The study folks had some suggestions on ways to cut back on waste:

• Small changes such as reusable containers and water bottles (not surprising, since that is what Naglene manufactures) or walking instead of driving.
• Compost yard trimmings and food leftovers. The EPA estimates that 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream is made up of yard trimming and food leftovers. Composting avoids filling the landfills and is environmentally beneficial.
• Rain barrels. Even in the city, rain barrels can be installed in a building. They save money on water that can be used to water the yard.
• Bikes. Help the environment and get some exercise by skipping the car.
• Public transportation. Even if using public transportation a few times a week, this has an impact on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
• Thrift stores, libraries, used book stores are all good ways not to waste and to support local businesses.