The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Today, scientists believe the world's largest garbage dump isn't on land but it is in the

In Mantua Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, privately owned land once stood as one of the most hazardous waste sites in the United States. This site known as the Helen Kramer Landfill included 66-acres of waste, 11 acres of unfavorably conditioned vegetation, and no onsite residents. Prior to the early 1960’s, Helen Keller landfill was a sand and gravel excavation operation, but soon began to incorporate the disposal of waste material for about a decade. After the landfill received numerous inspections and notices between 1971 and 1977, the owner Helen Kramer was informed to cease operation of the landfill. As New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports indicated and area residents stated, “sporadic chemical

In addition, there exist some environmental risks related to producing landfill. Even though the Australian Federal Government is not offering incentives to repurpose waste, some communities and State and Local governments are offering incentives for this practice. The main purpose of this is to avoid the disposing of waste in landfills, due to the fact that it requires so much time, energy and space, injuring our planet's health (McCabe,

Plastic comes in innumerable shapes and sizes; it is used for various purposes. We use it to bag our groceries, pay with it, drink from it, occasionally eat off it or unwrap it to get to food, etc. The functionality of plastic is continual and surrounds us, so what is the con of plastic? When plastic cups, bottles, and bags are abandoned in the street, the wind transports and the rain seizes them into storm gutters, tributaries and eventually the ocean. When rubbish and plastic originate from terrestrial territory and enters the sea it is swept away by an eddy vortex called the North Pacific Gyre. Charles Moore discovered the North Pacific Gyre, or also known as “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in 1997. This garbage patch stretches hundreds of miles off the shoreline of California and Hawaii. Scientists estimated its size to be twofold the size of Texas or maybe even more substantial. This garbage patch contains some ten million tons of litter. According to Lindsey Blomberg, who wrote the article titled The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, writes, “What is known for certain is that the marine debris in the North Pacific Gyre is 80% plastic and it's mostly coming from land.” (1) Although the trash is in the ocean, it not only affects us but, wildlife on land or in sea too. Furthermost of the waste in the ocean consists of "microplastics" which according to Kitt Doucette, who wrote the article titled An Ocean Of Plastic is, “Larger chunks of waste that have been reduced to tiny

Society has become better acquainted with the dangers associated with pollution during recent years and people have started to adopt environmental attitudes as a result of learning more concerning the harm their actions can provoke to the natural world. The Pacific Trash Vortex is an area in the Pacific Ocean that contains a series of pollutants with most of it consisting of plastic. The area is twice the size of Texas and is killing millions of birds, animal, and fish as they are unable to distinguish between foods they can eat and things that are likely to cause their death.

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

Anywhere you look around the United States landfills can be found. If you are lucky enough to pass by one, the site is probably seen reaching capacity. Sometimes you might not even see them before your nose catches the putrid scent. These landfill sites sure are not popular but they are very much a necessity to our lives. Imagine what we would do with all the trash if we did not have somewhere to go with it? Unfortunately, landfill sites do have negative side effects on the environment. Three of the top concerns related to landfills are toxins released in the air coming from items such as electronic waste, liquid trash contaminating the land and waterways, and greenhouse gas emissions like methane. With the world on watch with heightened awareness

I chose to research the question, what is the effect of dumping plastic in the ocean because we might think that dumping it in the ocean doesn’t have a big impact. However, it affects more things individually than we might know about. Dumping in the ocean as a whole has multiple effects, but the plastic dumped adds to the problems. There are huge dilemmas in the ocean due to the dumping of plastic, just like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. However, there are ways that we can all help to reduce plastic dumping in the ocean.

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

The average resident produces seven and a half pounds of garbage every day that is buried down in landfills and litters lands costing a great amount of money. Nowadays, people face no more critical trouble than the need to save the weakening environment, mainly in urban areas, where solid wastes are uselessly dumped. It has been observed that cities have no controlled structure for garbage disposal. Each year, millions of dollars are spent picking up litter and more is thrown away in valuable materials that could be recycled. As humanity develops new technology and equipment, the level of waste increases every day. Due to the fact that there is a huge problem with garbage disposal, government representatives must contribute to resolving

In the early 1980’s, the method of waste handling was simply to landfill waste and there was not much concern at that time bout the design of these landfills. Many of them were rushed and ideas such as leachate collection systems were the last things on people’s minds. These landfill were basically just huge holes in the ground into which any type of waste or dirt was thrown. This was evident in the documentary, where in Wingmoor, Gloucestershire, a landfill was named ‘The most toxic in Europe’, and where toxins such as paints and nail varnish leached down into the water table. It said there are around 2,500 active landfills in the United Kingdom, where the continuously rising population are producing more and more rubbish. Methane levels are at an all-time high and one landfill even burst into the sea in Dorset, with the rubbish affecting fishermen. As the 1980’s progressed, people started to realise the damage that was being caused. The American State of Minnesota was ordered by the

Hidden, tucked away in no-man’s land between Hawaii and San Francisco lies a “floating continent” composed entirely of garbage. This environmentalist’s nightmare is at a staggering size twice the size of Texas. It is around 1400000 km², consisting of mostly plastic and other waste matter, and is the largest landfill in the world. There is roughly 3,340,000 pieces of rubbish/km² with an average mass of 5.1kg/km². It has numerous names like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Eastern Garbage Patch or the Pacific Trash Vortex.

In order to understand a problem, one must race it back to its roots. What is the cause of this urban waste crisis? Why has it reached this point where it is now considered such a big problem? The answer is fairly simple and logical; Population growth. The current human population of the planet in the year 2014 stands to around 7 billion (worldometers). This number is expected to increase by 50% by 2050 (UN, 2007). Almost half of those 7 billion people live in urban areas based on reports (United Nations Population Division, 2006). Now taking into

This method of landfill is not considered to be completely Eco-friendly, not even when it is performed by the highest standards and the procedure followed all health regulations. Still pollution is expected in form of leakage of poisonous materials from the landfills which leads to water contamination. Moreover, gases are produced inside landfills due to decomposing waste, like methane gas, which is highly flammable and dangerous.

As the rate of urbanization and industrialisation in India has gone up so has the rate of waste production and generation. As per the report of CPCB 2012, India generated 127485.107 MT/Day out of which 70 % is collected, rest are lying either on the roads or water body. The waste collected is inadequate to reuse, recycle or generate it for the energy due to its mixed character, lack of financial constraint and competence of the municipal body.