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Pacific garbage patch twice size of US


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user posted image rSubmitted by Da Verminator: A rubbish dump found floating in the Pacific Ocean is estimated to be twice the size of the United States. The vast expanse of debris, made up of plastic junk including footballs, kayaks, Lego blocks and carrier bags, is kept together by swirling underwater currents.

It stretches from 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.

news icon View: Full Article | Source: Gulf News

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I don't see how satellites could not pick up something that big. The trash is said to be made up of soild things. It would be picked up by satellite. And how come no one else has not seen this?

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You know I challenge people to do something. Don't throw out your cups from all the cups of coffee or soda you get from stores for one week and then think about how much garbage that is.

Or soda bottles. Its just so much plastic its unreal.

I wonder if these marine animals will evolve to incorporate this plastic on a molecular level?

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Well it looks like most of it came from California, Oregon, Canada, Alaska, Australia, Vietnam, China, and Hawaii by the way the currents run. By the way there is a new plastic that is bio degradable! :D

Edited by cerberusxp
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When I went to NY last summer I was visiting some family in Staten Island and I was apparently throwing the wrong stuff in the wrong trash cans. My aunt was like noooooooooo we'll get fined and I was totally shocked. I never heard this before, How many places is it you actually have to recycle?? I'm guessing not many maybe some of the bigger cities. I think it's a very good idea.

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When I went to NY last summer I was visiting some family in Staten Island and I was apparently throwing the wrong stuff in the wrong trash cans. My aunt was like noooooooooo we'll get fined and I was totally shocked. I never heard this before, How many places is it you actually have to recycle?? I'm guessing not many maybe some of the bigger cities. I think it's a very good idea.

Yeah when I lived on Long Island, NY everyone had a recycle can for plastic and glass... I never thought it was a big deal until I recently moved down to Florida. When I asked people how to get a recycle can and who to I get to come pick it up, people were like "what's a recycle can?" I was pretty surprised when I realized there is no recycling at all going on here.

According to this source:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...9/SS6JS8RH0.DTL

It is not even twice the size of Texas.

Ohh, ok so it's only about twice the size of Texas, which has a land area of 261,914 square miles... so clearly a patch of garbage that may only be slightly more than 500,000 square miles is of no concern. Good thing the record was set straight and I don't have to care about it anymore. And yes that was sarcastic!

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  • 2 weeks later...
 
I don't see how satellites could not pick up something that big. The trash is said to be made up of soild things. It would be picked up by satellite. And how come no one else has not seen this?

According to this source:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...9/SS6JS8RH0.DTL

It is not even twice the size of Texas.

It doesn't really matter how big it is - it's still disgusting. As a society, we use so much bloody stuff that we don't really need. What about our enviroment, the planet we live on? Isn't that more important than being able to throw away tonnes of unwanted plastic?

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Yeah when I lived on Long Island, NY everyone had a recycle can for plastic and glass... I never thought it was a big deal until I recently moved down to Florida. When I asked people how to get a recycle can and who to I get to come pick it up, people were like "what's a recycle can?" I was pretty surprised when I realized there is no recycling at all going on here.

At home we are required to sort by:

  1. Blue bin [plastic & glass]
  2. Grey bin [newspaper & cardboard]
  3. Green bin [biodegradable kitchen waste]
  4. Black bin [all other trash that does not belong in the above bins]

^^

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Here in my town, we have a recycle trash can with a round sticker on it, or you can use a certain blue trash bag, that gets picked up once a week...We also have to recycle newspapers by tying them in bundles....We started recycling a few years ago, when our debris from hospitals started coming up on the beaches...it was disgusting, finding syringes, bloodied guaze, uniforms covered in blood, foods and so forth and so on....After this they started the recycling, beginning with the hospitals...So far, so good....

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Plastic can only be recycled twice. The "recycle" emblems on the bottoms of plastic items have numbers. Only "1" and "2" can be recycled. Everything higher has already been recycled and can't be reused anymore. FUNNY how that is not more generally KNOWN.

The only hope is for everyone who cares to stop eating animals, stop using plastic, stop wasting fuel, stop being a blind, crazy consumer. You can't force the world to be sane; it will not comply. You can only discipline yourself. And your offspring. And work (gently) on your friends. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." (--Gandhi)

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Plastic can only be recycled twice. The "recycle" emblems on the bottoms of plastic items have numbers. Only "1" and "2" can be recycled. Everything higher has already been recycled and can't be reused anymore. FUNNY how that is not more generally KNOWN.

Its not more generally known because thats not what those symbols mean. They identify the type of plastic the item is, not the number of times the material has been recycled. Plastic can be recycled several times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code

Edited by el midgetron
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