...And This Doesn't Even Include the Japanese Tsunami Debris

[Redlo Nosrep]

A visual reminder of the literal garbage cans our oceans are becoming:



450 years for a disposable diaper???

[NMDemDist2]

1. the glass bottles end up on glass beaches n/t

[hollysmom]

2. They didn't do juicy juice boxes

But since they are layered with different materials including metal and plastic, they last as long as disposable diapers.

I saw a show once where they recycled disposable diapers by peeling the layers apart and recycling the parts separately, must be a really disgusting job though.

[Speck Tater]

3. The apple core becomes usable food the instant it's tossed into the ocean.

So it doesn't really matter that an apple core is dropped overboard any more than it matters when a comparable size chunk of seaweed dies and drops to the ocean floor. It's natural organic material, not pollution. Everything else on the list is, of course, litter.

However, not all litter is polluting. The glass bottle is no different from a silica-containing rock. It does not pollute. The plywood is no worse than a natural tree branch that falls over an ocean cliff into the sea. Paper and cardboard are likewise pretty innocuous. Tin cans and aluminum cans sink to the bottom and are buried under sediment and disappear in a non-polluting way. We sink whole battle ships to make reefs for the benefit of the fish after all. All that steel and aluminum doesn't pollute anything.

Plastic is the real problem. It decomposes to toxic substances and breaks down into tiny pieces that contaminate the food chain.

Now if we dropped our plastic garbage into a subduction trench it would be sucked into the mantel, melted, and recycled as its constituent elements. That would be the ultimate planetary pollution-free garbage disposal. We would just need to insure that the garbage made it all the way to the very bottom of the trench.

[Redlo Nosrep]

4. Thanks

Your post made me feel hopeful. I've been into choosing biodegradable for many substances I use on the trail and in everyday life for decades, and I always smile when I toss an apple core into the brush, thinking about the birds, squirrels, and bugs enjoying the feast and converting my "garbage" into food.

Not so the plastics, as you pointed out:



http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/

[JNelson6563]

5. Jumping in to agree with you both!

And it is staggering to consider just how much plastic there is out there. It seems almost everything is made of it!

Julie