Background
Trash pollution is the disposal of waste, especially household waste, into undesignated areas for trash disposal. It is mainly caused by the mismanagement of solid waste from streets and residential areas while being carried to landfill sites for its final disposal, occuring when the local government has a poor system of garbage collection or disposal. This is also the main reason why trash pollution increases.
According to Live Science, trash pollution is mainly organic household garbage. In 2010, Americans produced about 250 million tons of garbage, which is 226.8 billion kilograms. The garbage includes packaging, furniture, clothing, and bottles.
In some countries, when the citizens don’t have any place to dispose of their trash,
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Statistics show that on average, people walk about twelve steps before littering (“Littering Statistics”). Another cause, proposed by Chicago’s Department of Streets & Sanitation, states that people are too irresponsible to take care of their trash. They expect it to become someone else’s problem, and they expect someone else to clean up their trash …show more content…
Of these species, “86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species and 43% of all marine mammal species” are impacted, with “at least 267 species” of marine wildlife affected in total (“Marine Plastic Pollution”). The way in which marine life is impacted by plastic pollution includes death by “starvation, ingestion, suffocation, injection, drowning, and entanglement” (“Marine Plastic Pollution”). To illustrate an example of the effects of trash pollution on marine wildlife, in 2010, off of the coast of Puget Sound, a beached grey whale was examined and shown to contain “a pair of pants and a golf ball, more than 20 plastic bags, small towels, duct tape and surgical gloves” (“Marine Plastic Pollution”). This exemplifies how bad garbage can affect organisms, particularly marine life. Another example of this is issue is when maternal seabirds feed plastic to their chicks; the plastic consumption impedes growth and greatly reduces the chicks’ chances of
The first question you may be asking yourself is, is there really a garbage crisis? Many would argue there is, and it is easy to see why. The population of the world is always growing; this growth results in increasing consumption. Whether it is food, energy, natural resources, material goods, or property, everyone is involved. Mass consumption leads to an increase in garbage and pollution. The production of cheaper goods that are available to most economic groups has also increased this trend. These factors lead many to believe "that we produce too much garbage.
Last year, America generated 250 million tons of trash, approximately 4.43 pounds of trash per person per day. For comparison’s sake, this much trash is equivalent to 125 million elephants, 1.5 billion burly offensive linemen, or 500 billion pounds of trash. Image 1 provides statistics about trash generation that support the
Recently, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean was found to be polluted with 38 million pieces of plastic that had been carried over by currents (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific island”). The island, dubbed ‘trash island’, is home to diverse animal populations that have all been devastated by the pollution. On the beach, hundreds of birds were seen dead by reporters and scientists. When analyzed, the primary cause of death turned out to be consumption of plastic. When animals ingest plastic, it clogs their stomach and poisons their body with toxic chemicals. These toxic chemicals cause an array of issues, such as reproductive and endocrine problems. Eventually, this leads to death (Knoblauch, “The environmental toll of plastics”). But due to the nature of plastics, it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to completely degrade, meaning that as plastic pollution continues to build up, more places like ‘trash island’ will be discovered. According to conservation scientist Alex Bond, “…[The island] is just an indicator of what’s floating around out there” (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific
Although littering may not always be intentional, sixty percent of pedestrians and forty percent of motorist deliberately do it (“NCDPS”). Because of all the littering being done, there is an island of trash two times the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean (Cruice-Barnett). This enormous amount of trash damages our environment more and more each day. When looking at it from that perspective, it is much easier to understand exactly how large of a problem littering actually is.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest garbage dump in the world. According to estimates made by experts, the patch holds approximately three and a half million tons of garbage. Majority of this garbage is made of plastic. This waste is a threatening problem to the patch’s surrounding wildlife. Many animals are caught in the floating pieces of trash and it is the cause of the deaths of about one million birds and about one hundred thousand other sea animals. Due to the oceans nature and constant moving currents, the trash is also constantly moving. Therefore the size of the patch never stays the exact same. However, scientists believe it be approximately two times the size of Texas. The plastic is mostly broken down from larger materials into small pieces. The patch has been referred to as one scientist as a, “plastic soup”. This garbage poses such a threat mainly because it does not biodegrade. These plastics will be in the ocean essentially forever. Many plastics also contain chemicals, and absorb other chemicals and pollutants they become exposed to. These newly absorbed toxins are then leaked and distributed back into the ocean over time. The chemicals can directly enter the bodies of the animals which consume them. A study was being conducted by scientists of the fish that inhabit the area around the patch. What the researchers found inside the belly of one fish (that was no larger in size than that of a finger), was eighty four small fragments of plastic. It does not take scientists to recognize the impact of this problem, Zach Gold, who is sixteen, is from Santa Monica California. Zach enjoys s...
Throughout the country one might find themselves seeing a plastic bag floating around or even stuck in a tree. This is a problem that most want to eliminate. A topic that Mangu-Ward writes about is the problem of plastic bags in marine life and other wildlife. For people the thought of animals dying angers them. These decisions that people are making currently are emotional decision as Mangu-Ward describes them. Many marine life animals have died from the cause of littering of the plastic bag. Mangu-Ward writes, “plastic bags make up 3.8 percent of beach litter”. Finding fish, turtles, and many more marine and wildlife animals with plastic bags either suck around their necks or in their throats is something that many do not like to see or hear. This evidence can also be supported when Mangu-Ward writes, “1 million birds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die each year from eating or getting entangled in plastic”. Mangu-Ward is currently giving evidence that plastic bags are bad for the
We always hear "do not litter!" or "throw your litter in the bins", maybe some of you bored to hear that yet we still do not throw it in the correct place. Litter is a serious habit problem to just throw away objects on the ground or leave them lying on the ground, instead of putting them in the garbage can. In Indonesia, the amount of litter is 175.000 ton/day and this is increasing every day. But we don't have to see that far, just look around us, our campus, Sanata Dharma University is still facing the littering problems. Each day, although there are various spots of bins and it is never full yet there are many litters lying in the floor, you can see the student hall as the evidence that even though it has 10 spots of bins, we still find people throwing their litter everywhere.
According to Statistic Brain, about 75% of people admitting to having littered within the last five years. In fact, the average number of paces that a person will hold a piece of trash before littering is a measly 12 paces, with up to 50% of all litter composing of discarded cigarette butts. These statistics show that this “trivial” issue is far more prevalent than one would think. This “trivial” issue is a cause of many reasons for us, as citizens on this planet, to start paying attention, and to deal with this problem before it balloons to the point where we cannot deal with anymore. Littering causes many adverse effects to the environment and to our daily lives, in being hazardous to wildlife, taking away from the local environment, and causing many ill effects on people and
One more question left.Why does it matter.The most important one at all. If I did not mention why it matters I will have no reasons to backup my opinion.It's like a answer in math without showing your work. Waste impacts everybody, it impact you, and it even impacts everybody you know.The landfills are already really full.In 10 years a lot of landfills will be filed.31.2 BILLION pounds of trash is put into those landfills each day.
“What Would Happen If People Didn’t Recycle?” The Online Gargoyle. Friday 1 July 2011. University of Illinois Board of Trustees. March 21,2014. http://uni.illinois.edu/og/opinions/2011/07/what-would-happen-if-people-didn-
Everybody throws away trash with little or no thought about where it’s going. What you might not know, is that there's a lot of trash that goes into our ocean. You may think it is not a big deal and that it’s just a little bit of trash in a really big ocean, but it’s not just a little bit of trash. In fact, it’s a whole lot. There is a place between California and Hawaii called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, but is better known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. This area is the largest landfill in the world and is completely in the ocean. The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is 90 percent covered with nothing but plastic; plastic which is a huge threat to fishes and birds. This garbage patch is not only from the pacific but it’s from all around the world. The currents of the waves carries however amount of debris in our pacific ocean and it’s can cause a lot of harm to our sea animals. In addition to all the garbage being held captive in our Pacific Ocean, there are also toxic things that probably we do and not usually think about
Although plastic bags appear to be fragile and light, their negative environmental effect is devastating. Plastic bags may cause large amounts of pollution in every step of their limited life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, production, transportation, and recycling or disposal. Plastic bags can be defined as the most damaging form of environmental pollution. They can have a damaging effect on marine animals and wildlife in addition to the aesthetic effects on beaches, parks, and trees. Plastic bags are potentially one of the main causes of death to marine animals (Harbor keepers,2008). Up to one hundred thousand marine animals or more die each year from eating plastic bags which are mistaken for food. This can result in blocking the animal’s intestines and possibly lead to the animal’s death. Another possible situation is that wildlife, such as birds, can get tangled in plastic bags causing choking and immobility, which may eventually lead to death. (Senior, 2008) and (Citizen Campaign, 2010). In other situations, after plastic bags photo degrade they remain toxic and could be eaten by fish, shellfish or any other marine life and survive this allows the toxins to enter our food chain through bioaccumulation (Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, 2011).
America and Europe are at the top of the list for most waste generated according to Waste (4). This is very visible because there’s litter on every street in the towns and cities, as well in lakes, beaches, and rivers. The book Waste by Rob Bowden states that the amount of waste produced is increasing at a rate faster than population growth. About 1.5 million computers, in the U.K, are thrown away each year and most end up in landfills. There are 3 types of waste which are Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial Waste, and Hazardous waste. MSW includes waste from public garbage cans and local dumpsters. Industrial Waste includes massive amounts of waste water that is contaminated with chemicals. Hazardous waste is the most dangerous as it presents a danger to human health and the environment. Solutions for waste disposal take time because people need to consider their lifestyle and limit the amount of waste they generate. A good start is to recycle items such as paper, cans, plastic, and clothes. This way they don’t end up in landfills, beaches, or streets. Another solution is to join organizations that go around places to recycle, or organizations that demand the reduction in the amount of products that are being
The United States produces “about 8.25 billion tons of solid wastes each year” (Russell 1). People do not realize the impact they have on our planet and environment. When people throw anything in the trashcan, they are contributing to the destruction of our planet. The number landfills in the United States are decreasing, but the amount and volume of waste being thrown into the new landfills is increasing (Russell 4). Because of this escalating amount of garbage, Methane which contributes to global warming is an outcome of these landfills (Russell 7). As a result, our planet is suffering because of this epidemic. The garbage being put in the landfills could be recycled, but not enough businesses, ...
Due to the fact that there is a huge problem with garbage disposal, government representatives must contribute to resolving this issue. Efficient waste management approaches help with reducing and avoiding unpleasant impacts on the environment and human health, while allowing for financial development and progress in the quality of people’s lives. People do not even imagine the size and capacity of their activities and the impact they produce on the environment. Garbage is an important ecological problem. It seems amazing that approximately all of the citizens of the world identify rubbish as a major environmental problem and yet these people still litter.