I had no idea that there is a 3.5 million ton island of plastic and garbage floating in the Pacific ocean between Hawaii and San Francisco. I found this out last night when I was marveling at the ridiculous petroleum-based packaging that housed my Oscar Meyer Center Cut Bacon. Not only was the plastic container over the top, but the shrink wrapped bacon inside was “freshness overkill.” I made the comment about just another example of our dependence on oil and petroleum products when my daughter asked me if I had heard about garbage island?
So I did some digging. What I found is that “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” or the “Trash Vortex,” has been around since the 1950s. Circular wind and ocean currents in the North Pacific Gyre have collected trash that originates onshore and has made its way into the Pacific. Greenpeace has a nice animation on how the gyre works.
The garbage island has been growing tenfold every decade and is now twice the size of Texas. Plastic makes up 80% of the waste, the majority of which is non-recyclable and highly toxic Bisphenol A. The world produces 7 billion pounds of Bisphenol A per year for hard, clear plastic called polycarbonate.
I’m pretty sure we can find better ways to save our collective bacon than continuing to use polycarbonates in our packaging, and to think twice about how we dispose of the non-recyclable plastics that are thrust into our lives.
Here is the first in a several episode series on garbage island from VBS-TV.
Tags: bisphenal A, garbage island, great pacific garbage patch, greenpeace, ocean pollution, pacific gyre, plastics, waste
Posted in: Consuming Green Stuff, Sustainable Marketing
I’ve always been annoyed at excesses plastic packaging by its difficulty to open as well as its environmental impact. I’ve noticed products sold at Costco are especially bad about this.
Thank you for sharing the info on the VBS documentary. I’m watching it now! I think I’m going to be sick. =-\
Yah, it’s pretty disturbing to say the least. And I’m surprised how few people know about garbage island. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks for sharing, this is awful, if it continues to grow at some point we will be able to walk to Hawaii and Japan
Thanks for the comment, Alan. Yah, it’s pretty disgusting stuff, and I’m surprised at how few people, including myself, knew about this crud. Unreal.
Easily one of the most distressing things I have seen.
It makes me wonder about something even scarier. If this is just errant trash that has accumulated to such a size, how much plastic that is actually disposed of (I assume the majority) is in the ground????
Good question, Kathryn, and one I hate to even ponder.
Maybe we should start using dead fetus skins for wrappers and bottles… This plastic stuff is obviously the worst thing that has ever happened to the planet ever, ever.
has anyone seen a photo or google earth view of this?
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Is this a joke? Do you environmentalists exaggerate much? I kept hearing phrases like “giant floating trash island the size of texas”, yet I can’t seem to find any pictures of it. And these fools go out in the ocean for a week and collect a couple armfuls of trash…incredible. That’s just profound right there. Pretty much what I’d expect from some altruistic naive college boy eloquent enough to use the word “f***ing” 3 times in a sentence.
I too am appalled by the floating island of garbage and appreciate you spreading the word. But it does make me wonder how someone so into “green” can still be eating meat. Does your “greenness” stop at your plate then? I could be wrong here and look forward to hearing you explain how factory farming has suddenly become a “sustainable” industry. Not to mention how you justify being part of the extreme brutality that these animals suffer on the way to your meal. Check out the documentary “Earthlings”. You can watch it free at their site or rent it from Netflix. If you’re at all interested, even a 7 minute investment of your time watching it’s trailer might be a very powerful experience for you.
There is obviously a lot more to research about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working ,excellent post!
I really think we have to find a way to to clean, filter,our way out of this mess folks. I know its going to be expensive so why not start an initiative that applies the costs to the companies that make the plastics so it can get cleaned up. Just the thought of the bismol A getting into our food chain is enough to make a woman worry that they can lose unborn children.
All that garbage is disgusting by all means, almost as disgusting as the vegetarians on here who tried to pipe up and convert everyone, tsk tsk
I agree, Rydaca — how silly to extend sustainability to an activity that effects all life on the entire planet. Tsk Tsk indeed. Don’t you hate it when a simple act like “thinking” makes things so messy? I’m with you! Here’s to compartmentalized thinking — No, better yet — here’s to bacon, clogged arteries and rivers and ocean choked with trash
Only in “magical thinking” can we separate important discussions on sustainability and treatment of animals – as if they are mutually exclusive disastrous events. When in fact, they are intertwined. Farming of animals is brutal to other beings we share this planet with and has brutal impacts on the Earth. Rydaca’s comments show what happens when someone lives in magical thinking – rather than becoming part of the solution, they have to attack someone who tries to shed reality on this make believe rationale – Park, talking about sustainability as you look at your bacon wrapping is like saying you’ve joined a car pool in a Hummer. There’s so many more ways we can be part of the solution – thanks, Neva for suggesting this truth. Ari