The Floating Landfill: Plastics in the Ocean
October 30, 2007 | Category: Green Living
By Kat Vaughan
On the cover of the SF Chronicle this morning, was the headline Floating Mass of Trash: Can it be Cleaned Up? The news piece covers the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a shape shifting, huge mass of plastics and other refuse floating approximately 1000 miles west of the California. Scientists disagree of the scope of the mass, but Charles Moore, a marine scientist with Algalita Marine Research Foundation, believes it is twice the size of Texas and 3 million tons.
The trash gathers in a region called North Pacific Gyre, due to the clockwise trade wind that circulates around the Pacific Rim. A plastic bottle that begins in a SF storm drain will eventually be pulled into the gyre and make the journey to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Along the journey, it will not biodegrade but photodegrade, causing the bottle not to disappear but become brittle and crack into tiny pieces. The most disturbing part of this plastic mess is that the marine life is consuming the particles of plastic, some of which are turned to dust. Imagine the impact of this on our entire food chain? Disgusting.
This is where I get so upset with the corporations that irresponsibly manufacture plastics. They should be investing in research and product development to find the best biodegradable bottles. I am really disgusted by this lack of social responsibility by corporate titans who line their pocketbooks yet care so little for how their business practices impact the environment and, ultimately, the health of mankind.
So what can we do to make a difference until these corporate giants become socially responsible and produce biodegradable bottles? Easy - let's agree to do the following:
1. Reduce the use of plastics. In fact, buy a water filter so you stop buying the plastic water bottles.
2. Use reusable shopping bags (I have several of them!)
3. Dispose of your refuse at the beach (stop littering!)
4. Double knot your garbage bags and keep your trash lid on.
Promise?
On the cover of the SF Chronicle this morning, was the headline Floating Mass of Trash: Can it be Cleaned Up? The news piece covers the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a shape shifting, huge mass of plastics and other refuse floating approximately 1000 miles west of the California. Scientists disagree of the scope of the mass, but Charles Moore, a marine scientist with Algalita Marine Research Foundation, believes it is twice the size of Texas and 3 million tons.
The trash gathers in a region called North Pacific Gyre, due to the clockwise trade wind that circulates around the Pacific Rim. A plastic bottle that begins in a SF storm drain will eventually be pulled into the gyre and make the journey to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Along the journey, it will not biodegrade but photodegrade, causing the bottle not to disappear but become brittle and crack into tiny pieces. The most disturbing part of this plastic mess is that the marine life is consuming the particles of plastic, some of which are turned to dust. Imagine the impact of this on our entire food chain? Disgusting.
This is where I get so upset with the corporations that irresponsibly manufacture plastics. They should be investing in research and product development to find the best biodegradable bottles. I am really disgusted by this lack of social responsibility by corporate titans who line their pocketbooks yet care so little for how their business practices impact the environment and, ultimately, the health of mankind.
So what can we do to make a difference until these corporate giants become socially responsible and produce biodegradable bottles? Easy - let's agree to do the following:
1. Reduce the use of plastics. In fact, buy a water filter so you stop buying the plastic water bottles.
2. Use reusable shopping bags (I have several of them!)
3. Dispose of your refuse at the beach (stop littering!)
4. Double knot your garbage bags and keep your trash lid on.
Promise?
|