Here's that story in pie charts, provided by the report. The rich, of course. OECD countries make almost half the world's trash. Africa and South Asia produce the least waste. Mostly food and paper. Two Recology executives, John Frances Porter and Paul Giusti, have been charged with crimes including bribery and money laundering. A total of 11 defendants have been charged in the probe, including multiple city employees.
City leaders decry the current garbage cans as unsightly and prone to frequent, costly breakdowns. In , Wong pled guilty to conspiring to commit fraud and money-laundering. San Francisco has wasted enough time and money on precious rubbish bins. For example, degradation of coral reefs globally has the potential to undermine the survival of a diverse array of invertebrates, fish, and vertebrates that depend on this limited resource, including many threatened and endangered species.
Chemical impacts associated with plastic aquatic trash include the accumulation and transport of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic PBTs contaminants, such as PCBs and pesticides.
PBT substances are chemical compounds that are resistant to degradation breaking down , are highly mobile in the environment and exhibit a high degree of toxicity. Aquatic plastic debris has been found to accumulate contaminants at concentrations that are orders of magnitude thousands to millions of times greater than the surrounding environment. Based on a number of studies, including those conducted by EPA, plastics have the potential to adsorb chemicals of concern from the environment, and serve as a potential global transport mechanism for contaminants of concern into the food chain and potentially to humans who eat seafoods.
Contaminants accumulated on the surface of plastic particles as well as those within the plastic can be released to the environment when the plastics break down into smaller particles as a result of ultraviolet UV radiation, mechanical forces, and weathering.
Evidence is adding up that plastic debris, including resin pellets and fragments, transfer PBTs to organisms when consumed. For example, the accumulation of PBTs from plastics has been documented in seabirds and benthic organisms. In a study by Ryan et al , great shearwaters Puffinus gravis , a seabird known to ingest plastic, had PCB concentrations in fat tissues corresponding to the amounts of plastic found in their stomachs.
There is a substantial body of evidence documenting the harmful effects of aquatic plastic debris on river and marine organisms. The most common threats to wildlife include both physical hazards from ingestion and entanglement, and toxicological threats from ingestion of contaminants attached to and trapped within plastic particles.
Problems associated with the ingestion of plastics include development of internal and external wounds, impairment of feeding capacity due to the buildup or blockage of the digestive system, decreased mobility and predatory avoidance, and toxicity.
Ingestion of plastics by seabirds has been shown to reduce body weight, inhibit fat deposition, and reduce reproductive capacity. Due to the fact that seabirds feed over wide ranges and are an upper-trophic level predator that is, they eat prey high on the food chain , they act as early indicators of pollutants such as plastics in the marine environment. Ingestion of plastic debris by seabirds, fish, and sea turtles has been widely documented, and ingestion has been reported from marine mammals as well.
The potential for plastic ingestion is largely associated with situations where plastic particles can be mistaken for food. For example, sea turtles readily consume plastic bags and other floating debris that appear similar to their gelatinous prey, jellyfish.
Predatory organisms, such as fur seals, may indirectly consume plastics through consumption of ocean fish and other prey that have consumed plastic particles mistaken for food. In addition to degrading the habitats and ecosystem services that humans use, plastic aquatic debris can directly interfere with navigation, impede commercial and recreational fishing, threaten health and safety, and reduce tourism.
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