My wife and I were traveling in Borneo a few years back. They have "water villages" there where all the houses are built on stilts in shallow water. You could not see the shore because it was completely covered in a layer of garbage. It was like living on top of a landfill. At first I thought it was garbage thrown out by the villagers, but it's not. It was garbage that washes in on the tide. Every now and then the villagers try to clean it up, only to be overwhelmed by a new batch. We were told that it only takes a few weeks for the garbage to completely cover the shore again. It was heartbreaking.
I saw that on the Malaysian peninsula. Chinese fishing villages that still speak an old dialect of Cantonese. It's worse in what looks to be the dry season and low tide like you have there.
The other issue is that it's not important to them to clean it up - as it was explained to me. I talked to a local while there and she explained that growing up she never saw it, but years away and she doesn't like it now but knows no one is interesting in picking it up. Partly because they don't seem to care in her opinion partly because they don't have trash service there anyhow, a lot of the trash is put there by the people that live right above it. So it seems like double work to them. Why spent weeks cleaning it up when they're dumping their daily trash there and have been for a hundred years - before plastic it wasn't really a problem of course.
There is another issue that many of these little above water fishing villages do have running water - but no sewage. I've seen toilets and sinks that look right down into the water. You DO NOT want to go down there.
I think an important thing to note was of the trash I saw, none of it had American or Chinese labels, instead was bahas-malay writing, or local brands. So it's a little hard to say "oh how awful! I need to do something" when unfortunately, they're doing a lot of it it to themselves directly or their countrymen.
It is sad thought, totally agree. And Borneo was awesome, but don't tell anyone!
> You could not see the shore because it was completely covered in a layer of garbage. It was like living on top of a landfill.
I've seen the same thing in many different parts of the world. The coastlines are an absolute mess, but then again so is the interior. Garbage is just everywhere in the developing world, strewn about with no concern no matter where you are.
“It happens pretty much all the time if there is a strong rainfall or a storm,”
The phenomenon is not confined to the Dominican Republic, he said, and can be seen in many developing nations with a coastline. “Everybody uses the rivers and the beaches as dump sites.”
--
So we're being told that ocean's plastic garbage patch is somehow made out of the contents of landfills around the globe (and western countries) making it into the ocean with rain water. To anyone who has seen a landfill in real life that looks wildly improbable, except for a very minuscule amount of material.
I feel like developing countries using ocean as a waste dump is much more likely to be the true cause of the garbage patch.
There was a recent study which has been circulating. Most (90%) of the plastics in the ocean that are not related to fishing equipment come from 8 rivers in Asia and then the Nile and Niger rivers in Africa. Mostly due to poor or unregulated waste disposal infrastructures.
You’re being told explicitly that “the garbage comes from the Ozama river that flows into the ocean near the beach”. That’s literally on the page. And then you’re being told that “[in many developing nations with a coastline], everyone uses the rivers and beaches as dump sites”.
Its not the landfills. Its the slums around cities in developing countries. They don't even have roads most of the time, much less effective trash collection. They usually just dump the trash down the hill or through some water drainage. You can clearly see the problem if you go there.
> developing countries using ocean as a waste dump
I thought this was common knowledge by this point. The most polluted rivers in the world are located in India, China, South America, Africa, and Indonesia.
Who is telling you all the ocean's garbage /plastic patches are from landfills? I haven't read that personally. The evidence I've seen points to general litter, things falling from garbage receptacles, and in addition developing nations with very lax cultural norms around garbage. I don't think landfills are in the picture as one of the top factors.
Is that landfill claim a bit of a strawman (pardon the pun)? I've seen little to nothing about it being the result of landfills, and everything about it being a result of the culture of disposable plastics. We're all to blame for disposable plastics.
I've wondered for a time, why we put so much energy into banning certain plastic items, instead of improving biodegradable plastic technologies in conjunction with efficient trash sorting at waste management plants.
If we can replace most plastics with biodegradable forms, a large part of these issues go away completely within our lifetime; plastics decomposing in as little as 24 months![1]
> According to a 2010 EPA report, 12.4%, or 31 million tons, of all municipal solid waste (MSW) is plastic. 8.2% of that, or 2.55 million tons, were recovered[1]
A large part of our recycling problem is that it's entirely dependent on people doing the right thing and putting recyclable materials in the correct bin. Why not have machines that can sort recyclables from true decompostable trash? Plastics tend to float, glass tends to sink, tin and many other metals are magnetic... etc. Removing a dependence on people to remember what's recyclable and where to dispose of used items would be a huge win for the environment.
I like this plan because if we make biodegradable plastic cheaper than regular plastic then it would even help in places like the DR and it's neighbor Haiti where there literally is no garbage collection infrastructure and it's easier to throw trash in the street thank to take it home and burn it.
The article title and introduction is pretty misleading, as only halfway the article it is revealed that "the plastic waste washing onto Montesinos Beach comes from the Ozama River". So while this is obviously an example of plastic reaching the ocean to form a garbage patch, the article's examples of beaches filled with plastic are not a result of the patches reaching the shore again.
The title makes you believe that this garbage comes from somewhere else, across the ocean, but it's actually coming from their own river into which everybody is dumping waste.
I didn't realise how big of a problem it was until Blue Planet II last year, and then earlier this year I stayed in Unawatuna, and the hotel had a small private beach that is cleared of plastic daily, and it was covered again within hours. I didn't take any photos of the litter directly, but in the top-left of this photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg7qXxyH-2c/?taken-by=unfunco it is somewhat visible.
It's endless, it'll just keep washing up for the foreseeable future. In the UK you're now vilified if you ask for a plastic bag to carry your shopping home, and the pubs and bars near me no longer offer plastic straws, I'm fine with this, but our waste is an almost literal drop in the ocean compared to the waste being dumped in rivers and oceans by developing nations.
> Mr. Gutsch said that recycling was a short-term solution and amounted to only a bandage. Parley for the Oceans advocates phasing out single-use plastic altogether.
This is the key. We must hold the companies producing single use plastics responsible for the massive amounts of toxic waste they dump on our planet. For too long, they have been allowed to pass the responsibility and blame on to the consumer. Recycling programs have not been sufficiently successful. It's time to stop the problem at the source.
> The plastic waste washing onto Montesinos Beach comes from the Ozama River, which flows into the Caribbean nearby, one of those in charge of the cleanup, Gen. Rafael Antonio Carrasco, told Reuters.
Maybe I misread this, but it sounds like the source of the garbage is relatively local.
It's not the Great Garbage Patch or anything like that, it's the DR's own garbage they they throw in the Ozama River that's washing up ashore.
Also the Dominican Republic is pretty developed country but in neighboring Haiti things are in pretty bad shape. I saw in a Youtube video by somebody who went there on an eco tour the piles on garbage on a river. He said the garbage was so bad you could walk across the river on the garbage. I can't locate the video clip anymore.
I was in Haiti. This is true, mounds and mounds of styrafoam lunch disposal because there is NO place to put garbage. If it is collected it's burned. The people will burn it themselves because again there is no place to collect it.
And nearly every other beach in the world. The amount of trash on shorelines, floating around, embedded in reef, etc is staggering.
The next time you're on vacation in the Caribbean, SE Asia, or South Pacific, wake up extra early and head out to the shoreline before any clean-up crews arrive to rake up the garbage (and seaweed). Or just visit an unmaintained beach away from resorts where tides work in favor of the garbage coming ashore and where the trash is never picked up. The oceans (and rivers which flow into them) are treated like a giant garbage dump in most of the world, and it shows.
While plastic in the ocean is a big problem, this amount of pollution is a local problem. It could be completely fixed by local people with known methods. "The plastic waste washing onto Montesinos Beach comes from the Ozama River, which flows into the Caribbean nearby." Caribbean beaches and the Gulf coast in general do not have beach pollution like this.
In a number of poorer regions in developing countries I've been too people don't have the capability or perhaps knowledge to properly dispose of garbage so it ends up on the side of the road, which eventually makes its way into rivers and the ocean.
In the 'west' or more specifically in the United States dump trash in rivers or in the ocean is hight legal and hight risky. You would very likely be caught if you did it with any frequency.
It gets old blaming America for problems America doesnt cause, and diminishes all of your future blame America comments.
Most of that garbage is usually from locales which lack a recyling infrastructure as well as a recycling culture. If you read the article they mention locals use beaches and streams as personal dumping grounds. So if by west you mean from the local west indies, you’re right.
[+] [-] lisper|7 years ago|reply
[UPDATE] Here's a photo: http://www.flownet.com/ron/trips/Borneo/Images/165.jpg
[+] [-] SlowRobotAhead|7 years ago|reply
The other issue is that it's not important to them to clean it up - as it was explained to me. I talked to a local while there and she explained that growing up she never saw it, but years away and she doesn't like it now but knows no one is interesting in picking it up. Partly because they don't seem to care in her opinion partly because they don't have trash service there anyhow, a lot of the trash is put there by the people that live right above it. So it seems like double work to them. Why spent weeks cleaning it up when they're dumping their daily trash there and have been for a hundred years - before plastic it wasn't really a problem of course.
There is another issue that many of these little above water fishing villages do have running water - but no sewage. I've seen toilets and sinks that look right down into the water. You DO NOT want to go down there.
I think an important thing to note was of the trash I saw, none of it had American or Chinese labels, instead was bahas-malay writing, or local brands. So it's a little hard to say "oh how awful! I need to do something" when unfortunately, they're doing a lot of it it to themselves directly or their countrymen.
It is sad thought, totally agree. And Borneo was awesome, but don't tell anyone!
[+] [-] mjfern|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notadoc|7 years ago|reply
I've seen the same thing in many different parts of the world. The coastlines are an absolute mess, but then again so is the interior. Garbage is just everywhere in the developing world, strewn about with no concern no matter where you are.
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dsabanin|7 years ago|reply
--
“It happens pretty much all the time if there is a strong rainfall or a storm,”
The phenomenon is not confined to the Dominican Republic, he said, and can be seen in many developing nations with a coastline. “Everybody uses the rivers and the beaches as dump sites.” --
So we're being told that ocean's plastic garbage patch is somehow made out of the contents of landfills around the globe (and western countries) making it into the ocean with rain water. To anyone who has seen a landfill in real life that looks wildly improbable, except for a very minuscule amount of material.
I feel like developing countries using ocean as a waste dump is much more likely to be the true cause of the garbage patch.
[+] [-] mc32|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scarejunba|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] colanderman|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] steveadoo|7 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.theoceancleanup.com/sources/
[+] [-] cptaj|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fein|7 years ago|reply
I thought this was common knowledge by this point. The most polluted rivers in the world are located in India, China, South America, Africa, and Indonesia.
[+] [-] WhompingWindows|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throwaway427|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] endorphone|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Alupis|7 years ago|reply
If we can replace most plastics with biodegradable forms, a large part of these issues go away completely within our lifetime; plastics decomposing in as little as 24 months![1]
> According to a 2010 EPA report, 12.4%, or 31 million tons, of all municipal solid waste (MSW) is plastic. 8.2% of that, or 2.55 million tons, were recovered[1]
A large part of our recycling problem is that it's entirely dependent on people doing the right thing and putting recyclable materials in the correct bin. Why not have machines that can sort recyclables from true decompostable trash? Plastics tend to float, glass tends to sink, tin and many other metals are magnetic... etc. Removing a dependence on people to remember what's recyclable and where to dispose of used items would be a huge win for the environment.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradable_plastic
[+] [-] bargl|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Confiks|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 21|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] beagledude|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unfunco|7 years ago|reply
It's endless, it'll just keep washing up for the foreseeable future. In the UK you're now vilified if you ask for a plastic bag to carry your shopping home, and the pubs and bars near me no longer offer plastic straws, I'm fine with this, but our waste is an almost literal drop in the ocean compared to the waste being dumped in rivers and oceans by developing nations.
[+] [-] jcoffland|7 years ago|reply
This is the key. We must hold the companies producing single use plastics responsible for the massive amounts of toxic waste they dump on our planet. For too long, they have been allowed to pass the responsibility and blame on to the consumer. Recycling programs have not been sufficiently successful. It's time to stop the problem at the source.
[+] [-] btbuildem|7 years ago|reply
Maybe I misread this, but it sounds like the source of the garbage is relatively local.
It's not the Great Garbage Patch or anything like that, it's the DR's own garbage they they throw in the Ozama River that's washing up ashore.
[+] [-] alexirobbins|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pkaye|7 years ago|reply
Also the Dominican Republic is pretty developed country but in neighboring Haiti things are in pretty bad shape. I saw in a Youtube video by somebody who went there on an eco tour the piles on garbage on a river. He said the garbage was so bad you could walk across the river on the garbage. I can't locate the video clip anymore.
[+] [-] bargl|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notadoc|7 years ago|reply
The next time you're on vacation in the Caribbean, SE Asia, or South Pacific, wake up extra early and head out to the shoreline before any clean-up crews arrive to rake up the garbage (and seaweed). Or just visit an unmaintained beach away from resorts where tides work in favor of the garbage coming ashore and where the trash is never picked up. The oceans (and rivers which flow into them) are treated like a giant garbage dump in most of the world, and it shows.
[+] [-] njarboe|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] wavesounds|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zaroth|7 years ago|reply
My first thought was it looks like a great problem for some robots — they need a small fleet of floating Rhombas.
[+] [-] jpindar|7 years ago|reply
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/02/mr-trash-wheels-...
[+] [-] swerveonem|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EGreg|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SonnyWortzik|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pulse7|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Chromozon|7 years ago|reply
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/the-jour...
[+] [-] deepvibrations|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toast_coder|7 years ago|reply
It gets old blaming America for problems America doesnt cause, and diminishes all of your future blame America comments.
Also, read the article...
[+] [-] mc32|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sev|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] clircle|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cup-of-tea|7 years ago|reply