4 ms·

This photo is surreal. I can't believe a trash filled planet is becoming a reality and we are doing little to nothing to stop it.

• branchless 8y ago
  Most people reading this are working to encourage it. Social media is funded by advertisers who want you to buy more.
• NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  Human nature being what it is, it's inevitable. Making it about personal responsibility to recycle and dispose tidily is guaranteeing a tragedy of the commons. This frees manufacturers to create ever more packaging crap and chase an extra fraction of a cent. Only way to stop it is to go back to packaging that decomposes or is inert like glass which soon loses the sharp edges.
  • robotrout 8y ago
    We need to get back to paper/cardboard packaging. Trees can be and are farmed. You can use as much paper as you want and never run out of trees.
    • toomuchtodo 8y ago
      Also makes it a natural carbon sink (trees->paper packaging->landfills).
      • newnewpdro 8y ago
        Isn't the paper decomposing in the landfill still part of the carbon cycle? Landfills break down, shrink, venting gases back into the atmosphere.
        • toomuchtodo 8y ago
          Yes, but at a reduced rate. And the methane at landfills is either burned off or used to generate electricity.
          • newnewpdro 8y ago
            > And the methane at landfills is either burned off or used to generate electricity. There's a retired landfill not far from my childhood home which was covered with grass and the area turned into a park. It had vent pipes dotting the large hill colloquially referred to as "mount trashmore", but nothing else was done to manage the vented gases. Perhaps you meant "may be", rather than "is". Especially if we're talking about landfill practices across the globe.
            • toomuchtodo 8y ago
              As with everything, it’s nuanced. The EPA regulations requiring methane management are fairly recent, although some waste management orgs have been more progressive than others historically (and there’s money to be made in piping or burning that methane). With that said, it’s entirely possible there are older landfills that are simply exhausting methane into the atmosphere. I expect their numbers to fall over time, as the EPA has a substantial budget (~$100MM) for landfill custodians who would like to remediate their methane disposal. https://www.epa.gov/lmop https://www.epa.gov/lmop
              • maxerickson 8y ago
                According to their fact sheet, the majority of active and recently close landfills aren't collecting methane. It also implies that a modest majority of landfills where collection is economically viable are collecting, but there's apparently ~1400 landfills where it isn't gonna happen. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-08/documents/green_power_from_landfill_gas.pdf https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-08/documents...
        • deleted 8y ago
          [deleted]
    • noja 8y ago
      No we do not. We need to do this instead: 1. Reduce 2. Re-use 3. Recycle In that order. Stop making crap that breaks. Stop buying crap we don't need.
• Shivetya 8y ago
  Please, the Western world is doing a lot of work in keeping it out of water ways and oceans. The majority of trash is from China and other Asian countries. [1] What can we do? Simple, this is where trade requirements include treating the environment right. We already have restrictions on seafood harvesting and protecting certain species like whales and dolphins. no reason we cannot hold trade to require proper handling of waste and pollution to include penalties and fees on offending nations [1] https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-13/5-countries-dump-more-plastic-oceans-rest-world-combined https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-13/5-countries-dump-more...
  • bpicolo 8y ago
    To be fair, part of the way we "take care" of it is by shipping a bunch of it's trash to China [0]. [0] https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/why-china-isnt-taking-americas-garbage-anymore-literally https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/why-china-isnt-taking-amer...
    • wyattpeak 8y ago
      I mean, true in the most technical sense, but given the Chinese paid an estimated half billion dollars for it in 2016 [1], the implication that it's being dumped there is disingenuous. [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-bans-foreign-waste-but-what-will-happen-to-the-worlds-recycling/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-bans-foreig...
  • aclsid 8y ago
    I think you are misleading yourself by recycling policies and waste management that takes the trash out to a place where you cannot see it, precisely the point of the article. The amount of trash a person generates in a country like the US is astounding. One person in the US generates in average 4.4 pounds of trash every day, and that makes Americans the top polluters in this sense. Having lived in North America, South America and China, I can tell you the main difference is packaging. The trash can itself is huge in the US, while in South America people use something closer to a small paper bin. A lot of the trash is organic, but in general, waste management and wastewater treatment in Latin America is awful. China on the other hand has a big wastewater treatment problem, especially in provinces like Sichuan from what I saw. One village I visited had its main creek contaminated in our generation by a nearby factory. waste generation is also low over there. https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/trash-numbers-startling-statistics-about-americans-and-their-garbage.html https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/trash-number...
• yupasama 8y ago
  For this reason I'm kinda glad stuff like this is happening, it will be a clear reminder of what we're doing to the planet. Kinda like when our rivers caught on fire in the 70s.
  • yupasama 8y ago
    It's unfortunate that it's happening to someone, but people need visual reminders that there's a problem.