Preview

The Largest Landfill in the World

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1804 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Largest Landfill in the World
Largest Landfill in the World

Soon going to the will no longer be a vacation option unless you do not plan to swim. There will probably be a huge amount of plastic and trash in the water. This is due to the Pacific trash vortex. All of the plastic that has accumulated over the years had either eended up in a landfill or in the ocean. It is however, more likely that the trash has ended up in the ocean. Trash that people just toss in the water ends up in the ocean. Americans fail to realize that bodies of water connect to larger bodies of water which eventually leads to that onee fun special vacation spot. A trash vortex is a big lanfill of garbage and plastic that ends up in the water. It is also known as a garbage patch. Sometimes the vortex is hard to see because the materials sink down to the bottom of the ocean floor. There has been much more garbage placed in the ocean than most people realize. Until you actually research this understanding how much trash ends up in the ocean is not possible. “Because of its durability and our increased use in recent decades, scientists estimate that plastic makes up 60 to 80 percent of marine debris worldwide.”( “Trashing the Ocean.“) This essay will further summarize what the pacific trash vortex is, describe the impacts the trash vortex has on the environment, talk about some of the biggest controvesies around this issue, and give my point of views on the issue. A trash vortex is a large area of garbage in the ocean. This area of garbage in the ocean takes up a large amount of space in the ocean. “ It is roughly the size of Texas, containing approximately 3.5 million tons of trash.“ (“Trashing the Ocean”). This area is so very large that it can not be hidden. Sometimes the materials just float, but then there are several types of materials that sink into the water and are not very visible by humans. “The expedition easily spotted some types of plastic. But a larger problem may lurk below the



Cited: “Garbage Patch.” Think Beyond Plastic. “Giant Ocean- Trash Vortex Documented -A First.” National Geographic News. 28 Oct 2010 “Planet100: The Pacific Trash Vortex Explained.” Online Posting. Youtube, 7 June 2010. Silverman, Jacob. “Why is the worlds biggest landfill in the Pacific Ocean?” How stuff works. “The trash vortex.” Greenpeace International. “Trashing the Ocean.” Ocean Portal. 2010 Walsh,Bryan. “Expedition Sets Sail to the Great Plastic Vortex.” Time Science. 01 Aug 2009 .

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    According to www.sciencedaily.com, in 2008 there was so much garbage they had 378,000 volunteers help cleanup garbage. Also garbage causes pollution and climate change and habitat destruction. Each year garbage kills over a million animals. From some garbage wrapping around animals flippers and amputating them. Additionally garbage can cut marine life and create infections. Also ocean currents have been carrying debris into all major oceanic gyres (spiral or vortex) for decades. They recorded a tin entered in the ocean In 1986 and will decompose until 2036. That is why everyone should recycle.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Purdy’s article, she discusses the five garbage patch gyres located in the ocean. She states that these gyres were noticed in the 1970s but didn’t catch the public eye until 1997 when Captain Charles Moore began to perform research. He observed that there was far more plastic than plankton. Purdy discusses how gyres damage the aquatic life and ecosystems on the ocean's floor. The article ends by stating how scientists agree that the only way to fix this issue is by drawing attention to the problem, taking steps such as recycling, and using items that contain no plastic…

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) has caused a lot of problems. People have come up with ideas as to how we can fix the problem in a cost effective and plausible way. One of the major concerns is the wildlife in the oceans. Marine biologists use devices such a waterproof cameras to track the movements and habits of marine life. This may allow us to see how the trash is affecting the animals in their habitats but can be disrupted if there is to high of a concentration of trash in the water. Marine biologists also use biostatistical programs and microcomputers to enter in information that tracks the animals. It can be shared with other scientists. While marine biologists and animal rescue teams are saving animals lives…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Khian Sea Research Paper

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Everyday we throw out the trash we never really stop to contemplate where it all ends up like a landfill, a ship, or even the bottom of the ocean. On September 5th 1986, the Khian Sea was well on it’s way for becoming the World’s Most Unwanted Garbage. The ship had so many toxins, infestations, and many other unpleasants contents that no one would accept it. It must be horrifying and nauseating to even catch a glimpse of what was on the ship also to know they dumped it somewhere not worrying about the consequences is truly despicable.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The great pacific garbage patch is formed by trash entering the water and getting caught in the currents along the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone (silverman). This zone is acting like a transport system for trash. This happens because the warm currents from the south combine with the cold…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The article “Trashing the Oceans,” by Thomas Hayden, which was published in U.S. News and World Report, states how the oceans are being polluted by the trash going within it. Another article “Managing Marine Plastic Pollution,”John H. Tibbetts, was published in Environmental Health Perspectives, demonstrates how the pollution is greatly impacting the ocean. The article “Trashing oceans” utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos in a superior manner as compared to “Managing Marine Plastic Pollution” because it holds factual information and draws the reader’s interest.…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In addition to the environment, marine animals mistakenly eat plastic bags due to people’s littering, which keeps killing ocean wildlife. The clean and blue oceans in California always attract tourists to spend time enjoying it during their holiday. Nonetheless, trashes littered by people gather together in the oceans due to ocean current, and plastic bags play a key role. As plastic bags dissolve, it forms a collection of marine debris, which forms Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Generally speaking, Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a lot of marine debris is collected together by the ocean current. People can distinguish this garbage easily, but marine animals don’t have this ability. According to California Coastal Commission, marine debris harms…

    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Are we killing our oceans? This is the proposed question of Dahr Jamail in his article Oceans of pollution. He details several environmental pollution issues facing the waters of the world, from large floating plastic islands to hypoxic zones in which sea life cannot breathe. His thesis is that humanity’s inability to deal with plastic waste is causing harmful problems in the ocean to rise, which could lead to serious negative effects on the planet. He conveys the current scientific consensus and directs it towards an audience that is unaware or ignorant of these issues.…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earth Science Study Guide

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Majority of the trash is from landfills toxic run off or from trash being dumped directly into the ocean.…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Hidden Life of Garbage

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages

    According to “The Hidden Life of Garbage,” Heather Rogers states, “Today’s garbage graveyards are sequestered, guarded, and veiled.(178)”Rogers claims that the Waste Management Inc. operates its Geological Reclamation Operations and Waste systems (GROW) landfill on a historical river valley in Pennsylvania in which Washington had crossed the Delaware river. At the landfill site, Rogers’ states, “the logic of our society’s unrestrained consuming and wasting quickly unravels. (178)” In addition, Rogers explains “the aptly named GROWS landfill is part of Waste Management Inc’s (WMI) 6000-acre garbage treatment complex, which includes a second landfill, an incinerator, and a state- mandated leaf composting lot.(178)” Perhaps the landfill GROWS is aptly named due to the fact that the landfills have become increasingly larger. Moreover, Rogers stressed that although landfill regulations make them less dangerous, these answers will only be short-term solutions. Altogether Rogers attitude of the situation is that these landfill projects are being kept away from the public eye for a reason, which is to keep us from asking questions. In short, Rogers concludes her article by asking the repressed question, “what if we didn’t have so much trash to get rid of?” We generate a large amount of garbage ourselves, everywhere we go. At my grocery store, trash is being generating by the lack of a proper recycling program, untouched, edible food going to waste, and certain materials not being reused.…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The scientific realm of ocean trash and its impact has been left horrifyingly untouched and is only now being taken up. Consequentially, we have been oblivious to the negative affects of this issue to the point where (1) the largest landfill on Earth is situated in the Pacific Ocean, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Although we lack a proper understanding, it is still an enormous threat to our planet and to us as humans, a fact that we seem content to be ignorant of. Already, there are (2) well over five trillion known scraps of garbage amuck in the ocean. Another moment cannot be spared if we are to do something. The immense amount of ocean trash afloat has caused concerns for marine life, human health, and even economy. As long as…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Ocean Garbage

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Chelsea Rochman is an ecologist at the University of California that has been trying to answer many unclear questions about ocean garbage and just how badly it’s affecting the ocean and marine life. Rochman believes that a lot of the supposed “threats” that scientists say ocean garbage pose had not been tested at all, and that the scientists had an insufficient amount of information to prove that the debris is doing or going to do exactly what they claim. Rochman and her colleagues studied over a hundred papers on the subject of ocean garbage and it’s effects. Eighty-Three percent of the perceived threats of ocean garbage were, in fact, proven true by scientists, while for most of the remaining 17%, the studies were simply too low-quality and…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Landfills are growing at an exponential rate in the United States; this is a big concern for many people. Many years ago people just threw their garbage in dumps and forgot about it. Then it started to become a problem as the dumps got fuller and just kept growing. People have to put their garbage somewhere; they produce over 4 pounds of garbage everyday per person, that’s about 250 million tons for the country (EPA.gov). The population is growing at a very quick rate also. Some people try to reduce their refuse and waste, but it is very difficult when just about everything we use has some form of waste, and it’s been going up to all time highs. Packaging alone makes up a third of all waste. America has over 3000 landfills that are in use and about 10000 that have been closed (EPA.gov). A vast amount of different ideas and problems come along with landfills and there are many ways to stop them from growing. The pollution associated with landfills is a problem, as well as the massive size of them, and solutions need to be found to stop them from growing.…

    • 1821 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Landfills have been used for centuries and they are quick and easy ways to get rid of garbage and others wastes. In the story “The Hidden Life of Garbage”, Heather Rodgers elaborates on how a company called Waste Management Inc. hides the pollution from the public eye. Rodgers tells how all of the waste is pushed into landfills and how the malodorous and repugnant landfills leak into the soil…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics