Garbage // Current

Trash-Powered Street Lamp!

Think about how much trash goes into a bin in, say, New York City’s Times Square on... more

Tyrannous
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1 day ago
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Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash

1,000 miles northeast of Hawaii — In this remote patch of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from any national boundary, the detritus of human life is collecting in a swirling current so large that it defies precise measurement.

Light bulbs, bottle caps, toothbrushes, Popsicle sticks and tiny pieces of plastic, each the size of a grain of rice, inhabit the Pacific garbage patch, an area of widely dispersed trash that doubles in size every decade and is now believed to be roughly twice the size of Texas. But one research organization estimates that the garbage now actually pervades the Pacific, though most of it is caught in what oceanographers call a gyre like this one — an area of heavy currents and slack winds that keep the trash swirling in a giant whirlpool.

Scientists say the garbage patch is just one of five that may be caught in giant gyres scattered around the world’s oceans. Abandoned fishing gear like buoys, fishing line and nets account for some of the waste, but other items come from land after washing into storm drains and out to sea.

Plastic is the most common refuse in the patch because it is lightweight, durable and an omnipresent, disposable product in both advanced and developing societies. It can float along for hundreds of miles before being caught in a gyre and then, over time, breaking down.

But once it does split into pieces, the fragments look like confetti in the water. Millions, billions, trillions and more of these particles are floating in the world’s trash-filled gyres.

PCBs, DDT and other toxic chemicals cannot dissolve in water, but the plastic absorbs them like a sponge. Fish that feed on plankton ingest the tiny plastic particles. Scientists from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation say that fish tissues contain some of the same chemicals as the plastic. The scientists speculate that toxic chemicals are leaching into fish tissue from the plastic they eat.

The researchers say that when a predator — a larger fish or a person — eats the fish that eats the plastic, that predator may be transferring toxins to its own tissues, and in greater concentrations since toxins from multiple food sources can accumulate in the body.

Charles Moore found the Pacific garbage patch by accident 12 years ago, when he came upon it on his way back from a sailing race in Hawaii. As captain, Mr. Moore ferried three researchers, his first mate and a journalist here this summer in his 10th scientific trip to the site. He is convinced that several similar garbage patches remain to be discovered.

“Anywhere you really look for it, you’re going to see it,” he said.

Many scientists believe there is a garbage patch off the coast of Japan and another in the Sargasso Sea, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.1,000 miles northeast of Hawaii — In this remote patch of the Pacific Ocean,... more

hpseaton
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4 days ago
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The Digital TV Switch Causes 70% Rise in E-Waste

We worried about the rise in dumped TVs when the switch to digital in the US occurred back in June. The UK is also switching to digital and figures show a frightening rise in dumped TVs, rising by 70% in the past year, with over half of them being upgradable. But they were dumped instead. As more areas switch to digital over the next two years, including London, just how much more of an impact can we expect, and can citizens be convinced that they don't need to dump their TVs at all?

The Guardian reports that the digital switch happened yesterday in the north-west of England. "This year, the council has recycled 50,000 analogue TVs thrown away by households, of which 30,000 could have been upgraded to receive digital TV signals with a simple £20 set-top box."

As in the US, most TVs don't need to be replaced - only a new box is needed. Yet many consumers are upgrading to new TVs anyway. Simon Birch, who is investigating the environmental impact of the digital switchover for Ethical Consumer magazine, blames Digital UK for the crush of discarded TVs, saying it isn't doing a good enough job telling consumers that they don't have to toss their televisions.

The eco-impact of televisions is under debate, though, as the Energy Saving Trust notes that a TV with a built-in digital tuner requires only one power supply and can save £7 and 20kg of carbon each year compared with an equivalent analogue TV combined with a set-top box.

However not factored in is the environmental cost of recycling a television, or worse, seeing it head to landfill, or worst, seeing it head to e-waste dumps in developing nations. In the US, only about 18% of the 23.9 million toxic CRT TVs thrown out in 2008 were recycled. And Sarah Westervelt, a Basel Action Network official, said about 80% will actually be shipped abroad to be "recycled" in China and Africa - and that is a violation of provisions of the Basel treaty that ban the shipment of toxic waste from the rich countries to poor ones. The same problems are to be expected in the UK, where e-waste in landfills is already a significant problem.

Over the long run, it is likely better to have an extra set-top box and not a new TV. It's just a matter of actually telling people this, and encouraging them to keep what isn't broken.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/the-digital-tv-switch-causes-70-rise-in-electronic-trash.php?dtc=th_rssWe worried about the rise in dumped TVs when the switch to digital in the US occurred... more

extemporaneous
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9 days ago
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Al Gore Admits CO2 Does Not Cause Majority Of Global Warming

In a new development that is potentially devastating to the agenda to introduce a... more

MetalestDragoon
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10 days ago
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Project Kaisei Scripps Oceanography North Pacific Gyre [video]

Underwater videographer, underwater photographer, and author, Annie Crawley joined... more

GrrlScientist
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20 days ago
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Project Kaisei 2009: Intro From the Kaisei [video]

Footage from the Kaisei, one of two research vessels Project Kaisei sent to the North... more

GrrlScientist
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21 days ago
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Mission Impossible?!? Can A Die-Hard Greenie Generate 0% Garbage In a 24 Hour Period?

Please take a moment to read all about the mini zero tolerance garbage experiment that... more

sfinfgeld2
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25 days ago
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Chris Jordan Takes Shots at the Trash Patch

That's disgusting and so upsetting. "The amount of junk in the birds' decomposing... more

lookatmypix
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26 days ago
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Angels of the Dump 1 of 3

To free every Filipino child and their family from the effects of poverty.

2t0t1m
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29 days ago
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The Garbage Patch: Miriam Goldstein Tracks Plastic in a Skiff [video]

Scripps scientist Miriam Goldstein talks about the SEAPLEX expedition to the North... more

GrrlScientist
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1 month ago
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Recycling facts that may surprise you

Most plastics are recyclable," says Keith Christman, senior director of packaging at... more

franksalot
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1 month ago
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: ...is not so good!

Here's one of TreeHugger's ten most potentially depressing slides. This is The Great... more

FreshPlastic
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1 month ago
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Is Garbage The Solution To Tackling Climate Change?

Converting the rubbish that fills the world’s landfills into biofuel may be the... more

julesrs007
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1 month ago
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Waste, commercials and reality

Premier Berlusconi gaffe, freedom of press and the new houses in L'Aquila: so many... more

bibabiba
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1 month ago
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Live Fast, Die Young -- Making Today's Shiny Plastic Toys More Sustainable

Who loves their toys -- yaayyyy, we all do!! We weren't magically born with the need... more

sfinfgeld2
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1 month ago
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"Disrupting" and "resisting" the G-20

Seek justice responsibly.

patomalley
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1 month ago
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‘Trash Humpers’: In Pursuit of Ugliness

"The new indie film Trash Humpers observes the lives of three fictional cretin-like... more

sk8bs55
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1 month ago
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Video: 20,000 Detergent Bottles Under the Sea

—Photo of marine debris courtesy of Tay Wiles. Front page photo courtesy of Project Kaisei.

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"benign by design."

it seems as though much of what we consume to day is here to stay. more particularly plastic products. How long could we expect to go on like this before it coming back to haunt us? not long, that is for sure.

Right now, as we speak there is a floating mass of garbage as big as the size of texas drifiting 400 miles off the coast of California. I don't know about you but this sounds like a job for....the conscientious consumer! Not only are we responsible for the goods we buy and the services we use them for but, also the recycling and disposal of used products.

it may seem like a monstrous task in the undertaking and that no one person can do it on their own, however, don't be deceived. it is possible and it is going to have to start with you. what you do with your time and money doesn't only affect you, it affects that of those around you as well. why you buy each product and what you use it for is your business except when the manner in which you dispose of it encroaches on your neighbors or the surrounding natural wild life.

despite all this, rest assured there have been motions towards movements against this and there are steps being made to take action and it can happen from your garage, out on your front lawn, in the alley, down on the corner, out in the street and then eventually the world. it's "micro-enviro-nomics." make it happen people. grass roots rock! see: http://current.com/items/90965135_the-dc-concierge-help-turn-dc-s-parking-spots-into-parks.htm ; http://current.com/items/90964353_parking-spaces-become-parks-in-hundreds-of-cities.htm // at the very least it is feigning an attempt at something bigger but it is better than nothing. let's join the cause so that all our efforts will not be in vain.

life is art: art is life; make it beautiful: make it happen.

~sk8bs55

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—Photo of marine debris courtesy of Tay Wiles. Front page photo courtesy of Project... more