Garbage Patch Recycling

When ever you go to the beach, do you ever think about what can happen to an animal and the water when you leave a wrapper in the sand or a plastic bottle in the water? If you think about it, even a small piece of plastic can harm a fish. The fish could mistake it for food. This could potentially kill the fish. There are other things that people d that pollutes the ocean. An oil spill from a boat can get fish sick (Doc.2). Also, solid waste, plastics, glass, and foam (OI). Marine life can get trapped in any of these items (OI). There are many things we can do to prevent this, like, reducing plastic waste in stream, improve solid waste management, and increase, capture, and reuse (Doc.1). These are just a few of the many things we could do to

The problem with plastic ending up in the ocean is that marine life is being harmed by the presence of it. A study done on the harbor seals in the Netherlands found that more than 12% had plastic in the digestive system (California Coastal Commission). The list of affected species indicates that marine debris is affecting a significant number of species. It affects at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species (Save our shores). The problem is underestimated because the marine life that ingests plastic or dies from entanglement often goes undiscovered due to the vastness of the ocean, as they either sink or are eaten by predators before they are discovered (Plastic Debris). The potential harm from ingestion of plastics is not restricted to seabirds. Plastic bags drifting on ocean currents resemble the prey of turtles. There is evidence that their survival is being hindered by plastic debris with young sea turtles being vulnerable (Ocean pollution). Over the past 20 years polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have polluted marine food webs at an increasing rate, and are prevalent in seabirds. Though their adverse effects may not always be apparent, PCBs lead to reproductive disorders, increase the risk of disease and alter hormone levels. These chemicals have a detrimental effect on marine organisms even at very low levels and plastic pellets could be a route for PCBs into marine food

Ocean currents corral trillions of decomposing plastic items and other trash into gigantic, swirling garbage patches (Pacific Trash Vortex)

The beauty of California is slowly fading away and as environmentalists would say, “There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surrounding” (Carson, 366). According to the findings revealed by research foundations in California, marine life is and has been in great danger as a result of plastic remains that accumulates in the Ocean. In his article Daniel Woods states, “Approximately eighty percent of remains found in Oceans are made of plastic that originates from urban runoffs such as plastic trash carried away from landfills, trucks, as well as garbage containers, marinas, ports and construction trash” (Wood, 20). Furthermore, these results also revealed that marine remains where made up of disposable plastic products that constitute food packaging as well as containers that are ever present and contain precious resources that can be used unsustainably. These issues have affected the state critically and have lead me to research the reasons behind the banning of plastic pollution, their economic impact, harm resulting from plastic pollution, as well as federal concerns on plastic contamination.

The garbage in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t only harmful to the aquatic animals that live inside it, but to the surrounding marine life as well. Several birds who depend upon fishing as their source of food are in just as much danger as the fish who live in the water. As Katherine Cooney, from the New York Times, states, “An Environmental Protection Agency study showed that the chicks that died of those causes had twice as much plastic in their stomachs. Bottle caps, combs, golf tees, toothbrushes and even toy soldiers were found inside the birds.” Cooney is trying to show that the death of these innocent birds is undeniably due to the plastic found in their bodies. An approximated 200,000 of the 500,000 chicks born there each year died from dehydration and starvation (Cooney).

In the article, "Plastic in Our Oceans", Kimberly Amaral discusses the everyday uses of plastic and how it can be beneficial to humans, but harmful to marine life. As fishermen casually dump waste overboard, animals mistake it for food sources, such as a turtle mistaking a plastic grocery bag for a jellyfish. From the trash brought out to sea, gyres, large circulations of water, carry the garbage through currents, spreading it to all over the ocean, specifically to the central gyre. Amaral notes common ways for marine life to die from plastic, which include entanglement by plastic rings, consumption of plastic bags and pellets which stuff the intestines and lead to health problems, and suffocation. As researchers today work hard to discover

Over the few years, humans have discarded millions of tons of garbage into the oceans. Ever wonder where the cup you threw out this morning will end up? Or the plastic spoon you used for lunch? How about the cap of a water bottle? The calamitous plastic ends up in the water, taking thousands of years to decompose. The consumption of plastic by the marine life is perilous and the leading cause of death for life on shore.

Currently, 300 million tons of plastic are manufactured to supply the world demand and between 5 and 13 million tons are found in the ocean (Katsnelson, 2015). Based on current trends, by 2050, 2,000 million tons of plastic will be manufactured to supply the worlds demand for plastic, meaning more pollution in the oceans (Vaughan, 2016, May 23). As Richard Thompson has stated, “While some of the plastic floats at the surface, the heavier pieces sink to the ocean floor making it hard to clean up the waste” (Katsnelson, 2015). Some of the waste comes from fishing materials or cargo ships. For example, fishing nets, buoys and other debris that is left behind from fishermen lead to the

The planets sustainability is under attack from human dependency on the convenience of plastic and are failing in the proper disposal of those items. Advocacy groups the like of Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (cafnec) who are offering solutions through education awareness and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who are offering grants for marine debris removal, educational programs and research. In an article from cafnec (2013) they pointed out that 80% of plastic debris comes from land and during beach clean up the most common item found have been plastic bottle caps, bags and pellets. These items are being are in dead seabirds gizzards as they cannot distinguish plastic debris from food. Human littering of

In the documentary “Inside the Garbage of the World”, the main social problem being explained is that there has been a great influx of plastic and other type of garbage in oceans and their beaches. This buildup of pollution has largely affected the wildlife population ranging from animals on the beaches to the creatures of the ocean. In oceans, what is called ‘garbage patches’, a large buildup of garbage that flow to one area in the oceans, are being created. Approximately 50 percent of all plastic sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor but about 2 times that much is actually already on the ocean floor. In fact, according to the documentary, there is a garbage patch that is to the left of California that is the size of half of the United States. Each year, about 4.7 million tons of plastic goes in the ocean a year and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be another 33 billion tons of plastic added to the present amount. Eighty percent of the current pollution comes from the land. According to marine researchers, twice as much plastic debris is one the ocean floor than it was 10 years ago. In the futures, plastic will break down into smaller pieces of plastic, creating a bigger problem from the habitat. This plastic pollution is one of the leading cause for beach and ocean inhabiting creatures be extinct because animals are mistaking these plastic pieces for food. When scientist began to dissect beach animals such as birds, they discovered that at least fifteen pounds of

By polluting the ocean, plastic certainly makes harmful effect on flora and fauna. According to estimation of The United Nations Environment Program, plastic is a cause of death of 100,000 marine mammals and one million birds every year, including the albatross (Doucette, Kitt 2). Sea birds swallow plastic cigarette lighters, disposable forks, toothbrushes and bottle caps, mistaking them for fish. Turtles chew plastics bags instead of seaweed. Tiny fragments of plastic are the real threat to respiratory system of whales, dolphins and other sea animals.

We 're treating the oceans like a trash bin: around 80 percent of marine litter originates on land, and most of that is plastic. Plastic that pollutes our oceans and waterways has severe impacts on our environment and our economy. Seabirds, whales, sea turtles and other marine life are eating marine plastic pollution and dying from choking, intestinal blockage and starvation. Scientists are investigating the long-term impacts of toxic pollutants absorbed, transported, and consumed by fish and other marine life, including the potential effects on human health.

This has been done over and over again throughout the years. All though plastic is biodegradable, it takes an average of 450 years for it to do so. Some bottles can take up to 1000 years for this to happen. By that time our planet will not be able to support such thing and will give up on us. Plastic usually breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic over the years before it to fully biodegrade. These tiny pieces of plastic are eaten by so many marine animals that live around them and every single animal that eats these tiny pieces are affected by it and many times die. All these tons of plastic don’t just disappear or get eaten by the animals though, they accumulate. The great pacific garbage patch is an example of this happening. This area is around 7 million tons heavy and twice the size of texas, it can also get 9 feet deep. Facts say that there is 6 times more plastic than plankton. In case you didn 't know, plankton is the main food for many animals living in the ocean, from small fish to the great whale shark depend on plankton to stay alive.

of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the exact size remains unknown. In addition, Doucette warns us that this patch contains more than ten million tons of waste. She describes the area to be a “fetid swamp of debris where tiny bits of decaying plastic outweigh zooplankton- one of the most prolific and abundant organisms on the planet- by a ration of six-to-one”(Doucette). It is now apparent that the amount of plastic particles residing in our oceans is damaging the natural habit and this trash is not going anywhere. Due to the currents in the ocean, plastic particles are

Due to their regurgitation ability; most studies have focused on the ingestion of plastic pollution by bird, this does little harm to birds used in the studies. The effects of ingestible plastic on fish have not been studied as thoroughly and no studies have been conducted on filter-feeding organisms, which do not possess a feeding mechanism which would allow them to distinguish between plastic and plankton. Plastic pollution is only getting worse due to increasing population of developing countries. A wide variety of marine species is known to be harmed by plastic debris. This could threaten the survival of certain species, especially since many are sadly endangered by other types of anthropogenic actions.