By: Annette Yates and Rachel Morin
The Trash Isles
There is a total of eight million tons of plastic in the ocean a year, this is the equivalent of having a garbage truck full of trash be dumped in the ocean every minute. Studies have shown that there is now so much plastic and pollution in the seas that an area the size of France has actually formed in the Pacific Ocean, it is known as the Trash Isles. Some states have been participating in an attempt to mitigate the flow of trash into the Pacific, the state of Hawaii, as well as many on shore cities and countries, joined the ban to use plastic shopping bags by 2015. The ban was heavily supported by local conservation groups, such as the the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation. The ban is part of a movement being pushed by many organizations, such as Californians Against Waste, to switch from plastic shopping bags to reusable bags. On its website, the California group framed plastic ocean pollution as a financial issue, saying that local and state agencies spend “millions each year in cleanup costs alone.”
Source:
https://www.change.org/p/un-secretary-general-ant%C3%B3nio-guterres-accept-the-trash-isles-as-an-official-country-help-protect-our-oceans
Photo:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjH_P2A9srhAhVJrVkKHVI5B18QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.change.org%2Fp%2Fun-secretary-general-ant%25C3%25B3nio-guterres-accept-the-trash-isles-as-an-official-country-help-protect-our-oceans&psig=AOvVaw0ecxTCDYcoyhP0rT-ZmSPt&ust=1555171115142394
