Why is there so much trash in the ocean?
When you watch tv you might see a new story about an ocean clean-up crew or an add to stop using so much plastic because its killing animals. Have you ever wondered why there is so much garbage and how it got there or why it is not already resolved.
Plastic pollution has been around since the 1950’s when it was first invented, at that time America was in the right place as it was just out of WW2 and the great depression and was in high spirts to restart the normal nice American family. When plastic was first introduced it was an instant hit with everyone because it was light weight but durable at the same time and it was easy and cheap to produce. Plastic and the sort of rebirth of money in the economy sparked a new sort of craze called the “throw away lifestyle” where you could buy anything you want and didn’t have a care in the world where it would end up at.
Evenchely, this craze would countine you into the 70’s, where the government would notice that roads would sometimes get cluttered up with bags and other trash. To combat this, they would run ads to promote clean up after yourself, this somewhat worked but it would cause something else to happen. In landfills with trash is where the wind and rain would knock trash into rivers and the ocean, at that time no one thought of it, but it would eventually have long term effects
It wasn’t until the late 2010’s would steam around huge piles of trash all around the ocean killing animals. The us government passed laws that made it illegal to dump trash in the ocean, but people kept on doing it. This resulted in a huge ball of trash known as the great pacific garbage patch that is in the Pacific Ocean and is twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France.
On average it takes plastic about 20-500 years to fully decompose but they are not even gone. Sometimes when plastic decomposes, it leaves behind what is called micro plastics. These micro plastics are impossible to catch and can easily go into sea animal’s mouths, causing suffocation or poising them as foods making them not safe to eat. Normal plastic can seem like food to fish and turtles causing suffocation while other animals can get stuck in them causing limited movement and thus being easy prey. Rivers are also in danger; plastic build up over time can prevent fish from going down stream.
There is a way to save the animals as there are many ways to stop this from happening. Using things like rubber or paper as substitutes for plastic can help use less, if you have some plastic be sure to recycle it to make better use of it and prevent it from going into the ocean. Picking up trash so that it doesn’t blow into rivers can help
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