Trash // Current TV

Nearly a half-million pieces of trash litter Jersey shoreline

A bag of heroin, a 10-gallon gas tank, five pairs of underwear, a duck caller and a plastic cow were among the nearly half-million pieces of trash picked up from New Jersey's beaches by volunteers last year. It may appear that everything but the kitchen sink turned up. But that's wrong: There was one of those, too.

Clean Ocean Action, the environmental group that has been doing beach sweeps for 25 years, says in a report to be released today that an all-time high of 475,321 pieces of litter were removed from the state's 127-mile shoreline last year. The 8,372 people who participated in spring and fall cleanups also set a record.

Plastics accounted for nearly three-quarters of the debris plucked from the beaches, with plastic caps or lids topping the list at 61,895. Miscellaneous bits and pieces of plastic were next at 51,249 items, followed by cigarette filters (an all-time high of 45,903), food wrappers or bags (43,113), straws or coffee stirrers (39,029), foam pieces (22,099), and bottles (18,212). Wood and lumber accounted for 10,384 items, followed closely by cigar tips (10,328) and shopping bags (8,619).
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The report may also give new impetus to efforts to ban or phase out the use of plastic bags at grocery stores. The number of plastic bags collected more than quadrupled from 2,793 in 1993 to 12,873 in 2009. Plastic caps and lids also soared from 6,947 in 1993 to 33,551 in 2009. There were 8,611 pieces of paper found last year, and 7,723 pieces of glass.

But it is the report's "Roster of the Ridiculous" that gets the most attention each year, a list of wacky or downright yucky items mixed in among the plastics. For 2010 they included the gas tank (which, with gasoline at nearly $4 a gallon appears nearly unfathomable to throw away nowadays), a thumbnail-sized bag of heroin (which is probably worth less than the gasoline), plastic fingernails, a Home Depot apron, a scooter, human-shaped candles, a ballet slipper, an unopened Census form (take THAT, Uncle Sam!), a beer keg, a can of corned beef and a bottle of syrup (to go with the corned beef, no doubt).A bag of heroin, a 10-gallon gas tank, five pairs of underwear, a duck caller and a... more

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We need a place for trash... welcome to my new group The Propaganda Trash Can

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Woman arrested for taking food thrown out by store

A woman was handcuffed and 'treated like a hardened criminal' after she helped herself to food worth £200 that had been thrown away by a Tesco store following a power cut.
Dozens of people could not believe their luck after the outlet of the supermarket giant bagged up thousands of pounds of spoiled stock and left it out in the street.
Sasha Hall, 21, helped herself to potato waffles, pies and ham from outside the Tesco Express in Great Baddow, Essex.
But she was stunned when police arrived at her home and arrested her for suspected 'theft by finding' and took her to the station in handcuffs.
'There was £3,000 worth of food going to waste on the street,' she told the Essex Chronicle. 'It had been thrown out, so I thought I could put it to better use.
'When the police came round I was so upset. I felt like a terrible criminal.'
The shop worker said the supermarket - which has the motto 'Every little helps' - should have been pleased that the food would be put to good use.

She said: 'I would think the police have better things to be doing with their time than going after people who pick up potato waffles from the street. It's all been blown totally out of proportion.

'Tesco clearly did not want the food. They dumped it and rather than see it go to waste, I thought I could help feed me and my family for a week or two.'
Ms Hall, from Great Baddow, said she was shocked by the way the police dealt with the incident.
'They knocked at the door and said if I didn't open up they would use a battering ram,' she said. 'They handcuffed me and treated me like I was a hardened criminal and when we left they raided my house.
'I haven't got lots of money. I only make £600 a month. I'm on the brink of getting kicked out of my flat because I can't pay my arrears.'
A Tesco spokesman said: 'We are assisting the police with their inquiries. We seek to minimise waste in all our stores and where possible will seek to reuse and recycle it.'
Ms Hall, who works part-time at a rival supermarket in Chelmsford, is to appear in magistrates court on February 16 charged with theft by finding.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1355525/Woman-took-thrown-Tesco-food-handcuffed-arrested.html#ixzz1Db8fwGK8A woman was handcuffed and 'treated like a hardened criminal' after she... more

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Missile launcher found in Escondido Dumpster

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What we're throwing away the most

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China scientists say cigarette butts protect steel

The remnants of used cigarettes, among the world's most common form of trash, leak chemicals that have been shown to kill fish and damage the environment. The problem could be alleviated if new uses are found for the cigarette butts.

"When people walk on the streets, they usually see cigarette butts scattered everywhere, on the ground or the grass," said Jun Zhao, a Ph.D. student at the Xi'an Jiaotong University, by telephone. "I felt it was quite significant to do a project related to environmental protection."

The study is particularly relevant to China, where about 30 percent of the world's smokers live, a number roughly equal to the entire U.S. population. The country is home to both the world's largest tobacco grower and cigarette producer.

Zhao and other researchers in northwest China said Friday they have found that cigarette butts soaked in water can help guard against corrosion in a type of steel commonly used in the oil industry.

The finding was recently published in the American Chemical Society journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

Zhao said she started the research after noticing that cigarette butts turn the color of water brown when immersed in it, like the color of antiseptics. "That inspired me to wonder if the two are related," she said.

The researcher started collecting cigarette butts for the project around 18 months ago, picking them up from ashtrays atop roadside trash cans and collecting them from friends whom she had asked to save the butts.

"I have bags and bags of cigarette butts for the project. I have no idea how many of them I have," she said.

Researchers found that extracts of cigarette butt water could substantially protect N80 type steel from corroding when in hydrochloric acid at 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees F). That type of steel is often used to make drill rods, which costs oil producers millions of dollars annually when they corrode.

A compound material produced from the burning of nicotine and tar is what protects against corrosion, Zhao said, adding she planned to study its effect on preventing rusting in other metals.

The findings are "very convincing," said Guy D. Davis, a materials consultant based in Baltimore, Maryland, with 30 years of experience researching the treatment of surfaces.

Together with another researcher, Davis has previously studied the use of tobacco extracts on steel and aluminum. "Tobacco seems to be one of the best plant-based inhibitors" of corrosion, Davis said.

But using tobacco to guard against metal corrosion has its limitations, Davis said, including that it acts as a nutrient for mold over time and "develops an obnoxious odor."The remnants of used cigarettes, among the world's most common form of trash,... more

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