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Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 9:41:21 AM

pahunkboy

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

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 9:47:56 AM

HaveRopeWillBind

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Ocean Dumping has been illegal for decades now so if there is no fresh source of illegal dumping then this should not exist. Maybe there needs to be some investigation into the so-called recycling centers around Jersey City that seem to send out a great number of shipping containers to the port. What if these containers are being dumped mid-ocean and flushed out with seawater on their way to China to be reloaded with lead painted toys and toxic toothpaste to be sent back to the US. That could certainly explain these trash continents.

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 10:53:38 AM

Lordandmaster

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Are you sure all that garbage the size of Texas isn't...Texas?

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 11:27:16 AM

Raechard

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Maybe they can build an airport on it like in Japan

http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/kansai/

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 12:26:55 PM

came4U

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quote:

Are you sure all that garbage the size of Texas isn't...Texas?

errr maybe Jersey become detached from the mainland.

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 12:59:48 PM

camille65

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About 1/3 the way through that article I wondered why there were no photos. Instead there were artist renditions of what it looks like. So.. I read further and then through the comments. I think the article is flawed and alarmist, doing a great disservice to those really working on & understanding the issue. Yes there is a problem with the disposal of plastics but I do not believe that there are any floating islands the size of Texas. Most of the plastics break down to invisible pieces that are then consumed by sea animal life so I have trouble believing the whole size of Texas bit. IMO it damages the credibility of those trying to fix the problem when such exaggerated stories are put out as the truth, it lets a lot of people shrug off reality because the stories are not real. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pacific_GyreSome sources[4] have incorrectly reported that there is a "floating continent" of debris that is roughly twice the size of Texas, however no scientific investigation, including Moore's, has verified this

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 1:07:11 PM

Raechard

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quote:

ORIGINAL: camille65
Most of the plastics break down to invisible pieces that are then consumed by sea animal life.

You sure?

Plastics are a big problem which is why they should be reprocessed and not put into landfill sites etc. They will not break down in the way you suggest and sure sea life will eat them and in some cases choke and die.

I don't think as things stand the majority of polymers are biodegradable or if this is really possible without leaving some form of chemical contamination.

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 1:44:27 PM

Termyn8or

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I think they should burn it.

Now I am not talking just throw some gasoline on it, that would be foolish. Using the proper fuels and oxygenators they could get the temperature high enough to burn it pretty good, almost completely, this is something like what the catalytic convertor in your car does.

I am sure there will be an environmental impact, but taking such an action makes it short term. Hopefully the thing melts into a big glob and falls to the bottom. What else is there to do ? It is already there, the damage is done.

When you get a dislocated shoulder you can suffer the rest of your life, or one can put their foot on you and give your arm the right twist and you will be fixed. It will hurt like hell, but the pain will stop soon. Alternately you could just stay on painkillers and let your arm eventually fall off.

And while I do advocate tough solutions in some cases I do not advocate the ubiquitous "knee jerk reaction". All of this must be thought out carefully by competent people. You don't just up and do something like this, but burning it, and burning it the right way could be a viable solution.

What else can we do, fly it to the moon ?

T

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 1:56:26 PM

Raechard

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Recycling is the best approach 90% of plastics can be recycled, glass can be recycled, paper can be recycled, aluminium cans can be recycled. If it can’t be recycled people should be asking why such containers are being produced in the first place. It’s like when you go to a supermarket and find a box of four apples with polythene over the top? Why is this done? It’s not how it used to be done and we survived without such unnecessary packaging. You think you can make no difference but as consumers you can make choices that force manufactures to consider better practice. Why fill up a load of plastic bags at the supermarket the flimsy type that break? Surely you can reuse the same sturdy containers to move the things you buy to your car? This in Europe is what we have slowly come to realise that you have to solve this problem at the source. It isn’t a great hardship and the problem isn’t going away.

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 2:48:25 PM

pahunkboy

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a large amount is washed out to sea. it would make sense that there is more of it.

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 2:51:24 PM

luckydog1

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Recycling as we do it today is not very efficient, and produces a lot of toxic waste. There is a new technology being explored, and seems exremely effective, that uses Microwaves to recycle things. Basically most things have a "sweet point" that when Microved at that specific frequency simply dissolve. The main selling point the inventor is pushing now, is microwaving Car Tires.

"Car tires, of course, have steel belts, and metal, - as many home microwave-oven users have accidentally discovered - reacts poorly to microwaves. "The microwave door hit me in the head a few times before I figured out how to deal with that," Pringle said.
Oxygen causes that bad reaction. So he microwaved tires in a vacuum. After many trials and errors, he, chief engineer Hawk Hogan, researcher George Birch, and others found a frequency that turned tires into useful material. With 50 cents' worth of electricity for the large microwave he has fabricated, he demonstrates. He turns a single 14-inch car tire, one small piece at a time, into 1.2 gallons of diesel fuel, 7.5 pounds of carbon black, 50 cubic feet of combustible gas, and two pounds of high-strength steel.
Through tubes from the vacuum chamber inside the microwave, the diesel fuel goes into a glass container and the combustible gas is captured in a tank. The solids remain in a container inside the oven." http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20071203_Microwaved_tires__Fuel_of_the_future_.html

This process also works on anything made of plastic. It has also been shown to be an amazing way of getting Oil and Nat gas from Coal and Tar sands, while catching most of the Carbon as a powder. There are actually a lot of people working on this technology, and a pilot plant is being built in Australia. Theoretically in the very near future, most of our waste will be able to be reduced exponentially and generate energy at the same time. In theory we could beging mining our existing landfills, making a floating pile of Plastic the size of Texas to be worth hundreds of Millions of dollars

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 3:11:48 PM

popeye1250

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I've been recycling all plastics and aluminum cans for years now.
Also, newspapers and all cardboard too.
I think some power plants run on burning trash.
I think they have "scrubbers" in the smokestacks so that they emit a minimum of pollutants.
Anyone know?

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RE: Garbage size of Texas on ocean - 1/1/2008 6:05:36 PM

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