When plastic bags and bottle are not properly recycled or disposed of, many of them end up in the oceans. And we mean a lot -- 10 MILLION TONS of it in the Pacific Ocean alone.
Ocean currents deposit huge amounts of this pollution into huge floating masses of decomposing plastic particles. One of them is known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" - 3 million tons of plastic in a patch the size of Texas. Check out this article: http://www.cdnn.info/news/article/a071104.html
A United Nations Environment Program report also estimates that 46,000 pieces of plastic debris floats at or near the surface of each square mile of the ocean. Filter feeders like whales, shellfish and jellyfish ingest this stuff. Larger pieces choke other marine life.
But it also breaks down, leaching potentially toxic chemicals into the ocean. Here's an article in National Geographic. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090820-plastic-decomposes-oceans-seas.html
There is no technology solution to this problem. The solution is to stop using technology -- end our dependence on plastics, be sure to recycle what we do use. Retailers add three cents to the price of products for every plastic bag they hand out. Reusable cloth shopping bags pay for themselves very quickly.
In San Francisco, grocery stores are now banned from using plastic bags. If you use a cloth bag, the stores give you a five-cent credit for every paper bag you would have otherwise used.
The Clean Water Action group is encouraging eliminating the use of plastic bags by retailers. The group is organizing a campaign to send letters to you legislators. You can do it from here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2155/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3881&tag=email
THAT's a good cause.
No comments:
Post a Comment