Trashing the Planet: Examining Our Global Garbage Glut
TRASHING the Planet EXAMINING OUR GLOBAL GARBAGE GLUT STUART A KALLEN СВ TWENTY FIRST CENTURY BOOKS MINNEAPOLIS
CHAPTER 1 From Rags and Bones to Plastic Disaster On September 15 2015 a mega-storm dumped a record-breaking 2 4 inches 6 centimeters of rain on drought-stricken Los Angeles in just one day In Southern California the first big storm of the fall usually comes after a summer of little rainfall and brings what locals call the first flush Like the flushing of a giant toilet the rainwater courses through LA’s urban storm sewers and flood control channels picking up tons of garbage along the way The rainwater carries the trash into rivers which flow into the Pacific Ocean Most of the trash is plastic single-use water bottles shopping bags toys athletic shoes car parts 4 TRASHING THE PLANET
Heavy rains each fall carry trash from the streets and sewers of Los Angeles into rivers and then into the Pacific Ocean Discarded plastic Styrofoam and other debris end up on beaches and bob in waters offshore electronic devices beer and soda coolers and countless other plastic-based consumer goods The first flush of 2015 attracted a handful of trash pickers to Seal Beach south of Los Angeles where the San Gabriel River flows into the Pacific Ocean The pickers searched for items they could sell at swap meets or garage sales Katie Allen is the director of Algalita Marine Research and Education which studies the impact of plastic pollution on beaches and oceans She visited Seal Beach after the 2015 first flush and talked to the trash pickers Allen remarked Although their relationship with the first flush is purely business every single picker I interviewed was profoundly disheartened by the mess She continued Much of the debris was completely worthless and most of it remained on the beach The City of Los Angeles works to prevent garbage from washing into the ocean during the first flush City workers clean storm drains before seasonal rains begin in the fall Consumers recycle plastic on trash pickup days Yet garbage still piles up After the 2015 first flush many sandy California beaches glorified in rock songs books and movies turned into trash dumps And the garbage is more than an eyesore Over time ocean waves will carry the trash into the Pacific Ocean There sunlight rain and waves will break it up into small pieces As the plastic and other synthetic human-made materials decompose some of them will release poisonous chemicals into the air and water The scene at Seal Beach after the first flush is a microcosm of the worldwide garbage crisis Cities across the United States and nearly every other country on Earth have similar garbage problems Every day manufacturers create countless products to sell to millions of consumers And just about everything comes packaged inside and secured with instant trash cardboard boxes plastic boxes plastic and Styrofoam wrappers plastic bottles plastic sheeting rubber bands twist ties and more Consumers toss most containers and wrappers into the trash Even the products themselves often end up in FROM RAGS AND BONES TO PLASTIC DISASTER 5
