A few facts

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A Dutch study in the North Sea of fulmar seabirds concluded 95 per cent of the birds had plastic in their stomachs. More than 1600 pieces were found in the stomach of one bird in Belgium.

The United Nations Environment Program says plastic is accountable for the deaths of more than a million seabirds and more than 100,000 marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and seals every year.

Since his first encounter with the gyre in 1997, Moore created the Algalita Marine Research Foundation to help study the problem. Canadian filmmaker Ian Connacher joined Moore last year to film the garbage patch for his documentary, I Am Plastic.

“The most menacing part is those little bits of plastic start looking like food for certain animals, or the filter feeders don’t have any choice, they just pick them up,” noted Connacher.

Perhaps an even bigger problem is hiding beneath the surface of the islands of garbage. Greenpeace reports that about 70 per cent of the plastic that makes it to the ocean sinks to the bottom, where it then smothers marine life on the ocean floor. Dutch scientists have found 600,000 tons of discarded plastic on the bottom of the North Sea alone.

A study by the Japanese geochemist Hideshige Takada and his colleagues at Tokyo University in 2001 found that plastic polymers soak up the resilient poisons such as DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls. The researchers found that non-water-soluble toxic chemicals can be found in plastic in levels as high as a million times their concentration in water. As small pieces of plastic are mistaken for fish eggs and other food by marine life, these toxins end up at the dinner table. But even without the extra toxins, eating plastic is hazardous to health.

see http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/are-there-reall.html

Burning Bins

Burning bin

For more on burning plastic check this link

Originally uploaded by Black X List

Burning trash in a 55 gallon drum or in just a pile, often in the backyard, is a common method of solid waste disposal in some rural areas.

Surveys have revealed between 25 and 50 percent of rural residences and farms may do backyard burning.

Materials “burned” range from all household trash including plastics, glass and metal, to a more selective burning of just paper items. However, with today’s wastes, it is very difficult to keep plastics out of even carefully sorted paper-only waste. Envelope windows are usually plastic, as are some inserts in junk mail. Paper packaging often has plastic coatings.

Backyard burning is by definition “uncontrolled” burning and results in very high levels of toxic chemicals emitted in the smoke. Compared to municipal incinerators it takes place at much lower temperatures, with virtually no combustion air control, and with none of the very expensive high-tech pollution filtering apparatus required before the incinerator stack.

Very high levels of toxic chemicals and particulates are present in the smoke from open burning of waste. These may cause acute respiratory and other health problems in those breathing the smoke.

Burning plastics can be especially problematic, with PVC plastic in particular contributing to high emissions of dioxin. Dioxin is a persistent, bioaccumulative toxin which means it isn’t broken down into safer chemicals, and it is concentrated in the food chain. As dioxin in burn barrel smoke drifts away to eventually settle on nearby fields, it can be eaten by cows where it is concentrated in their fat. Some is then excreted with the milk while the rest remains in the animal’s fat. When humans consume dairy products and meat they end up with the long-lived dioxin in their own bodies. The US EPA now considers burn barrels a major source of dioxin. They also consider that current dioxin levels in Americans, due to consumption of dairy and meat, are high enough to add a significant cancer risk, as well as other serious health risks.

Open burning can also be a significant fire risk, with frequent brush, forest, and structure fires attributed to burning which got out of control. Deaths have even resulted from such fires.

A number of national, state, and local organizations are working on educating the public on the risks of backyard burning. The federal government does not currently have laws or regulations addressing this problem. However, numerous states and localities have banned open burning, and the list is growing rapidly.

The problem of open burning may have increased in recent years because the cost of proper disposal of solid waste has risen and is more likely to be charged by weight and to the individual. Recycling and proper waste disposal have also become less convenient in many areas. Therefore, part of the solution to open burning will be improvements in convenience and affordability of local solid waste management systems.

http://www.burnbarrel.org/Background/Background.html

 

Find more plastic free products with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index

plastic chemicals leach into sea water

Oh it just gets better – sea bathing isnt going to be good for you for much longer

Great photo originally uploaded by Mink

Cow Killers

Cows hanging about on street corners eating plastic bags. Doesnt do them any good at all and it is estimated that thousand dies each month from accidently ingesting the bad stuff. 

Hear all about it here or read about it here

And its not just cows – all kinds of animals die from eating plastic

Heres another interesting explnation of plastic pollution

 
Go plastic free – find  plastic free products with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index

deformed turtle

This one is for Martin. And here’s a  film of another deformed turtle – 6 pack plastic holders are responsible here

You think they would know what plastic looked like – lord knows there’s enough of it in our oceans

Yeah and here are some stupid ducks choking on plastic

Plastic Free Breasts

Whats in plastic might cost you your lady lumps. Not a nice subject I know but check out this breast cancer website – it might help you keep your bits.

Washed ashore

Just a Drop in the Sea, Eigg Beach Originally uploaded by suewhite

100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die every year from ingestion and/or entanglement with marine litter. 
A plastic bottle can take over 450 years to degrade.
Over 50% of all marine litter is plastic
15% of marine litter is on the beach, 15% on the surface of the sea and the remaining 70% on the seabed just waiting for a big storm to bring onto our beaches.
It is estimated that 2 billion sanitary items are flushed down the toilet every year in the UK.
Studies show there are over 2000 items of litter for every 1km of UK coastline, that’s 1 bit of litter for every 50cm of beach surveyed! 
Over 35% of all the marine litter on the beach is left by beach users!
Over 170 different marine species have been found with plastics in their stomachs.
Estimates for cleaning up beaches around the UK range between £14 million and £157 million annually!
These stats were taken fronm the Surfers Against Sewage website

Polystyrene poison

Hollywood Farmer’s Market-11

Downloaded from Flickr theres this from the trash detective – check out the rest of his photos

I’m not sure I can “have a nice day” if there is this much Styrofoam in the garbage. Read more about why Polystyrene is hazardous to your health and to the environment ask rosie

Local authorities, industry and coastal communities spend approximately £14 million a year to clean up beach litter in England and Wales alone (Environment Agency, 2004).

Annually the UK and maritime leisure industry is worth up to £11 billion.

Harbour authorities also have to pay to keep navigation channels free of litter – a survey of 42 harbour authorities reported that £26,100 is spent per year in some ports to clear fouled propellers and remove debris from the water

Some estimates put the cost of marine litter to the fishing industry at over £23 million a year (Environment Agency, 2002).

If you want to know more about the state of British beaches got to adopt a beach

How much rubbish is on your beach?

April 18, 2008 and the Ocean Conservancy released a report based on their beach cleanup efforts. On one day 380000 volunteers picked up six million pounds of rubbish data sheets ahowing rubbish break down by type location and source are available to download