15.12.16

22 Facts About Plastic Pollution (And 10 Things We Can Do About It)

All About Trash, trash facts 2015, trash facts and statistics, facts about trash and recycling, facts about waste, landfill facts, facts about littering, garbages.

Plastic is literally at my fingertips all day long. Plastic keyboard. Plastic framed computer monitor. Plastic mouse. The amount of plastic I encounter daily doesn’t end there. Chances are, you can relate. Plastic is an epidemic.
But where does all this plastic go? We ship some of it overseas to be recycled. Quite a bit ends up in landfills. And more than you can imagine ends up on the loose as plastic pollution, eventually making its way into our waterways.
Tiny plastic beads used in hundreds of toiletries like facial scrubs and toothpastes have even been found in our Great Lakes—the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world! Giant garbage patches (one twice the size of Texas) can be found floating around in the oceans. And all this plastic pollution is not only a problem for the earth, it’s bad for our health.
Green Diva Meg and I chatted about the plastic in our oceans on the recent Green Divas myEARTH360 Report podcast, which inspired me to uncover more facts about plastic in all of our lives and how it ends up in our precious water.
22 Preposterous Facts about Plastic Pollution.

  • In the Los Angeles area alone, 10 metric tons of plastic fragments—like grocery bags, straws and soda bottles—are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day.

  • Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century.

  • 50 percent of the plastic we use, we use just once and throw away.

  • Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.

  • We currently recover only five percent of the plastics we produce.

  • The average American throws away approximately 185 pounds of plastic per year.

  • Plastic accounts for around 10 percent of the total waste we generate.

  • The production of plastic uses around eight percent of the world’s oil production (bioplastics are not a good solution as they require food source crops).

  • Americans throw away 35 billion plastic water bottles every year (source: Brita)

  • Plastic in the ocean breaks down into such small segments that pieces of plastic from a one liter bottle could end up on every mile of beach throughout the world.

  • Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute.

  • 46 percent of plastics float (EPA 2006) and it can drift for years before eventually concentrating in the ocean gyres.

  • It takes 500-1,000 years for plastic to degrade.

  • Billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences in the oceans making up about 40 percent of the world’s ocean surfaces. 80 percent of pollution enters the ocean from the land.

  • The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located in the North Pacific Gyre off the coast of California and is the largest ocean garbage site in the world. This floating mass of plastic is twice the size of Texas, with plastic pieces outnumbering sea life six to one.

  • Plastic constitutes approximately 90 percent of all trash floating on the ocean’s surface, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile.

  • One million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.

  • 44 percent of all seabird species, 22 percent of cetaceans, all sea turtle species and a growing list of fish species have been documented with plastic in or around their bodies.

  • In samples collected in Lake Erie, 85 percent of the plastic particles were smaller than two-tenths of an inch, and much of that was microscopic. Researchers found 1,500 and 1.7 million of these particles per square mile.

  • Virtually every piece of plastic that was ever made still exists in some shape or form (with the exception of the small amount that has been incinerated).

  • Plastic chemicals can be absorbed by the body—93 percent of Americans age six or older test positive for BPA (a plastic chemical).

  • Some of these compounds found in plastic have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects.


Is it possible to go plastic-free?
Listen to the Green Divas feature interview with Beth Terry, author of Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can, Too.
Ten Ways To “Rise Above Plastic.”

  • Choose to reuse when it comes to shopping bags and bottled water. Cloth bags and metal or glass reusable bottles are available locally at great prices.

  • Refuse single-serving packaging, excess packaging, straws and other "disposable" plastics. Carry reusable utensils in your purse, backpack or car to use at bbq’s, potlucks or take-out restaurants.

  • Reduce everyday plastics such as sandwich bags and juice cartons by replacing them with a reusable lunch bag/box that includes a thermos.

  • Bring your to-go mug with you to the coffee shop, smoothie shop or restaurants that let you use them, which is a great way to reduce lids, plastic cups and/or plastic-lined cups.

  • Go digital!  No need for plastic cds, dvds and jewel cases when you can buy your music and videos online.

  • Seek out alternatives to the plastic items that you rely on.

  • Recycle. If you must use plastic, try to choose #1 (PETE) or #2 (HDPE), which are the most commonly recycled plastics. Avoid plastic bags and polystyrene foam as both typically have very low recycling rates.

  • Volunteer at a beach cleanup. Surfrider Foundation Chapters often hold cleanups monthly or more frequently.

  • Support plastic bag bans, polystyrene foam bans and bottle recycling bills.

  • Spread the word. Talk to your family and friends about why it is important to reduce plastic in our lives and the nasty impacts of plastic pollution.

All About Trash be Around

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Did you know that the United States throws away 40 million tons of paper each year that could be recycled? Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees.

How Long Will Your Trash Be Around?

What You Might Not Know About Trash
Item Years
Cigarette Butts 1-5 Years
Plastic-Coated Paper 5 Years
Tin Cans 50 Years
Plastic 6-pack Holder 450 Years
Aluminum Cans 500 Years
Glass Bottles 1,000 Years
Plastic Bottles Indefinitely

11 Surprising Facts About Trash

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Had the estimated 32.7 billion aluminum cans tossed out in 2011 been redeemed at recycling centers, they could have netted about $820 million.

More than four million pairs of eyeglasses are trashed annually, according to Unite for Sight.
 
22.3 billion pounds of textiles, including clothing, were thrown away in 2010.

The roughly 38,000 miles of ribbon we toss each year is "enough to tie a bow around the Earth," points out California's department of recycling.

According to the Rubber Manufacturers of America, 1.3 billion pounds of tires wound up in landfills in 2009.

In 2010, Americans got rid of 152 million cell phones and other mobile devices, of which 135 million made their way to the trash.

Each year more than 350 million pairs of shoes march into landfills, according to the charity Shoes for the Cure.

Ditto nearly 20,000 tons of used tennis balls, says reBonus, a recycling business.

Americans manufacture about one billion CDs and DVDs annually, millions of which end up in the trash, says the CD Recycling Center of America.

Over ten million bikes are dumped into American and European landfills yearly, says Bicycles for Humanity.

15.8 million tons of reading material (books, magazines) and other paper products were trashed in 2010.

All About Trash

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Bottled Water: One of the Worst Offenders

US landfills contain about 2 million tons of discarded water bottles, each of which will take more than 1,000 years to biodegrade. Recycling is only possible for a small number of these bottles, because only PET bottles are recyclable. In all, only one out of five plastic bottles ever make it to a recycling bin.
You might think re-using the bottle is an option, but commercial water bottles tend to wear down from repeated use, which can lead to bacterial growth in surface cracks inside the bottle. This risk is compounded if you fail to adequately wash the bottle between each use, using mild soap and warm water.
But even with washing, these microscopic hiding places may still allow pathogenic bacteria to linger. Perhaps more importantly, the plastic chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates lurk in plastic water bottles and can pose serious health hazards, especially to pregnant women and children.
Fortunately, the use of bottled water is one of the easiest habits to change. Simply put a filter on your tap and use a reusable glass water bottle to carry with you.

Why You Should Consider Ditching Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are so wasteful and polluting to the environment that many US cities have already banned them outright. For a succinct and entertaining introduction to the waste that is the plastic bag, I highly recommend the film "Bag It."
It is a truly eye-opening look to the vastness of the problem, and the immense waste that could be spared if more Americans toted a reusable bag with them to the grocery store. As their website reported:
"In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make the plastic bags that Americans consume. The United States International Trade Commission reported that 102 billion plastic bags were used in the US in 2009.
These bags, even when properly disposed of, are easily windblown and often wind up in waterways or on the landscape, becoming eyesores and degrading soil and water quality as they break down into toxic bits."
On a worldwide scale, each year about 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide. At over 1 million bags per minute, that's a lot of plastic bags, of which billions end up as litter each year, contaminating oceans and other waterways.

Food Waste Is a Serious Issue

You might not think throwing a banana peel or apple core in your trash is a big deal, but organic waste is actually the second highest component of landfills in the US. Organic landfill waste has increased by 50 percent per capita since 1974, as illustrated in this infographic.
One solution to this problem is to cut down on the amount of food you waste by planning your meals carefully (and shopping according), vacuum packing produce to help it last longer, eating leftovers and knowing when food is still safe to eat (versus when it’s actually spoiled).
 

10 Shocking Facts About Your Garbage

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MSN compiled 10 facts about garbage that are likely to surprise you.2 You may never look at your trash the same way again…
  1. More Than 100 Tons of Waste for Every American: The average American throws away more than 7 pounds of garbage a day. That's 102 tons in a lifetime, more than any other populations on Earth.
  2. Bottled Water Is the "Grandfather of Wasteful Industries." Edward Humes, author of the book "Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash," counts bottled water among the most wasteful of industries. In the US, Americans toss 60 million water bottles daily, which is nearly 700 each minute.
  3. Food Waste Is a Problem Too: Americans throw away 28 billion pounds of food a year, which is about 25 percent of the US food supply.
  4. Disposables Are a Drain: Ten percent of the world's oil supply is used to make and ship disposable plastics – items like plastic utensils, plates, and cups that are used just one time and thrown away.
  5. Trash Is Expensive: Most communities spend more to deal with trash than they spend for schoolbooks, fire protection, libraries, and parks.
  6. Carpet Waste Alone Is Astounding: Americans throw away 5.7 million tons of carpet every year.
  7. Paper Waste Is a Shame: Americans waste 4.5 million tons of office paper a year. Ask yourself… do I really need to print that?
  8. Opting Out of Junk Mail Makes a Difference: According to Humes, the energy used to create and distribute junk mail in the US for one day could heat 250,000 homes. You can opt-out of junk mail by going to CatalogChoice.org.
  9. Too Many Toys: Only 4 percent of the world's children live in the US, but Americans buy (and throw away) 40 percent of the world's toys. Buy less toys, opt for second-hand versions, and pass down the toys you do purchase to others.
  10. Plastic Bags: On average, Americans use 500 plastic bags per capita each year. Such bags make up the second most common type of garbage found on beaches. Stash reusable shopping bags in your purse or car so you're not tempted by plastic or paper.
 

14.12.16

The Pacific Garbage Patch is not alone

All About Trash, trash facts 2015, trash facts and statistics, facts about trash and recycling, facts about waste, landfill facts, facts about littering, garbages.

Unbelievably, there are is another floating island of garbage in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Sargasso Sea. It is not as big or as popular as the Texas-sized Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but it poses the same health risk to animals, birds, other marine mammals and us.
More: Plastic Island Pacific Ocean
The Sargasso sea is bounded by the North Atlantic Current, the Canary Current, the North Atlantic Equatorial Current and the Gulf stream. These currents carry the trash thrown into the ocean into the Sargasso Sea – where it gets trapped and accumulates.
The NOAA has conducted studies of these trash islands, including 5 other ocean gyres in the world. The trash soup is a collection of pelagic plastic particles, consumer products and sludge. The plastic particles are so small that when the water is rough, you won’t even see it, but it’s there. Some research studies say that there are 200,000 bits of trash per square kilometer. What you see in the surface is just a portion of what’s there, since plastic gets pushed down below the surface.
Trash islands are not islands that you can walk on. They’re more like a collection of garbage that gets stuck in one location because of the ocean gyres. It’s a collection of our trash such as abandoned fishing gears, bottle caps, toothbrush, plastic bags and so on.
Since plastic doesn’t biodegrade, what is thrown into the ocean will just photo-degrade into little bits of itself. It will always be there. Trillions of these plastics get trapped in the trash island.

The danger of plastics floating in the ocean

DDT, PCB and other toxic chemicals do not dissolve in water. However, they can be absorbed by plastic just like a sponge. Just imagine that each of the trillion micro plastic particles have absorbed some of the chemicals floating around in the ocean.
Since they’re very miniscule, they are mistaken as food by fish, seabirds and other marine animals. Once ingested, scientists speculate that the toxins can seep from the plastic into fish tissue. If the fish don’t die from ingesting the plastic, they will be contaminated.

More: Plastic Bag Pollution Facts
Now, these small fish gets eaten by larger fish, the kind that is sold in the market. Once the bigger fish eats the contaminated fish, it also acquires the toxins – in greater numbers even, since they have a pretty large appetite… and then the fishermen catches the big fish and we cook them in our kitchen and feed it to our families.
The rest of the animals die since the plastic accumulates in their stomachs. The horror is that even when the body of the animal decomposes… the plastics are still there.

Can we clean up the ocean?

As much as 80% of marine debris comes from land. 20% comes from ocean going vessels. Since we are mainly responsible for them, can we clean up these trash islands?
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds. There have been some efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to capture the industrial plastic pellets in the Atlantic ocean. The effort lessened the number somewhat – but pellets only make up less than 10% of the trash out there. There’s too much material scattered over a too large an area to make a significant impact.
Experts say that throwing out a net into the ocean will also capture millions of marine animals along with the trash. That would be defeating the purpose.

What can we do?

The solution is to minimize the waste here on land and to properly dispose of our trash. Policies on recycling and disposal should be strengthened and reinforced.
Read more about the latest global environmental issues at The World Counts: Stories.
Go green and find green products and ethical companies at FirmHugger.

6.12.16

Tong Sampah Origami

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