Tires are the most often dumped hazardous waste. In 2007 the United States generated 262 million scrap tires. Thirty-eight states have laws that ban whole tires being deposited in landfills. Many of these discarded tires end up illegally dumped on public lands. Tires can become a breeding ground for insect vectors which can transmit disease to humans. Mosquitoes, which breed in stagnant water, can transmit West Nile virus and malaria. Rodents nest in accumulated tires and can transmit diseases such as Hantavirus.

When tires are burned they can smolder for long periods of time, emitting hundreds of chemical compounds that pollute the air causing respiratory illnesses. Additionally the residue left behind can harm the soil and leach into groundwater.

This bolus from a Hawaiian albatross (either a black-footed albatross or a Laysan albatross) has several ingested flotsam items, including monofilament from fishing nets and a discarded toothbrush. Ingestion of plastic flotsam can be an increasing health risk to albatrosses, Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals.

Visual pollution is a major effect of litter.

Open containers such as paper cups, cardboard food packets, plastic drinks bottles and aluminum drinks cans may fill up with rainwater, providing breeding locations for mosquitoes. In addition, a spark or a lightning flash can start a fire if it strikes litter such as a paper bag or cardboard box.

Litter can be hazardous to health. Debris falling from vehicles is an increasing cause of automobile accidents. Discarded dangerous goods, chemicals, tires, sharps waste and pathogens resulting from litter can cause accidental harm to humans.

Litter also carries substantial cost to the economy. Cleaning up litter in the US costs hundreds of dollars per ton, about ten times more than the cost of trash disposal, with a cost totaling about $11 billion per year.

2. Americans make up roughly 5% of the world’s population, but generate nearly 40% of the world’s total waste.

3. On a daily basis, the United States produces enough trash to fill 63,000 garbage trucks.

4. If every garbage truck we filled (annually) was placed end-to-end, it would cover half the distance to the moon or ~119,450 miles.

5. The average college student produces 640 pounds of solid waste each year, including roughly 500 disposable cups and 320 pounds of paper.

6. In a lifetime, the average American will leave a legacy of 90,000 pounds of trash for future generations.

7. Today, most communities are spending more on waste management than they are for schoolbooks, fire protection, libraries, and parks.

8. Globally, enough hazardous waste is generated each year to fill the New Orleans Superdome more than 1,500 times over.

9. New York City residents throw out enough garbage each day to fill the entire Empire State Building.

10. The only relatively “clean” place on Earth is Antarctica. It is protected by the Antarctic Treaty, which prohibits military activities, mineral mining, nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal.

11. The amount of office paper wasted each year in the state of Massachusetts is enough to fill Fenway Park to the height of the Prudential Building (920 feet high).

12. Nearly one-third of the waste generated yearly in the United States is from product packaging.

13. Roughly 8,000-10,000 disposable diapers are used and thrown away before an average child is potty-trained.

14. Annually, potty-training in the US accounts for the use of 18 billion disposable diapers per year, 49 million per day, and 570 per second.

15. Diaper disposal costs equate to $350 million annually.

16. Disposable diapers will still be in the landfill 300 years after they were put there.

17. Americans throw out enough plastic cutlery (disposable cups, forks, spoons, and knives) annually to wrap around the equator 300 times, or 7,470,435 miles worth.

18. Americans throw out roughly 270 million tires annually.

19. Annually the United States discards roughly 1.6 billion pens and 2 billion razor blades.

20. Packaging represents about 65% of household trash.

21. Because landfills are so densely packed, much of the degradation that occurs is anaerobic (without air).

22. Anaerobic processes create a tremendous amount of methane gas, a major greenhouse gas whose environmental impact is 25x greater than carbon dioxide.

23. Americans throw away 5.7 million tons of carpet every year.

24. Only 4% of the world’s children live in the US, but Americans buy (and throw away) 40% of the world’s toys.

25. Americans throw out roughly 43,000 tons of food daily.

26. Each American throws out roughly 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that could be repurposed as compost.

27. Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year (approximately 1.3 billion tons) is wasted.

28. Latin America: The food currently lost or wasted could feed ~300 million people.

29. Europe: The food currently or wasted could feed ~200 million people.

30. Africa: The food currently lost or wasted could feed ~300 million people.

31. If one-fourth of the food currently lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed roughly 870 million people.

32. Annually, more than 14 billion pounds of garbage is dumped into the world’s ocean (mainly marine life toxic plastic).

33. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or Pacific trash vortex, is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. According to some estimates, the patch can be as large as twice the size of the US and would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than 1% of the garbage mass.

34. Almost half of all seabird species, 22% of cetaceans, all sea turtle species, and a growing list of fish species have been documented with plastic found in or around their bodies.

For more facts on water and ocean pollution, check out our blog “Ocean Pollution: 14 Facts That Will Blow Your Mind“.

35. Every year, over 50 million tons of electronic waste (i.e. cell phones, computers, TVs, etc.) is created.

36. In the United States alone, over 140 million cell phones are thrown into landfills every year.

37. If all U.S. cell phones were recycled in a given year, it would save enough energy to power ~25,000households for one year.

38. Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent of powering 3,657 American homes.

39. According to the EPA, only 12.5% of e-waste  in the US is recycled.

40. Annually, Americans throw out old phones containing over $60 million in gold and/or silver.

In 1970 Gary Anderson, a USC Graduate student entered and won a design contest sponsored by CCA – Container Corporation of America. The competition was to design a graphic symbol which would be used on recycled paper products and which could recognize a commitment to environmental sensitivity on the part of any manufacturer who was engaged in recycling. The winning symbol would be given over to the public domain. The competition was also to honor the first – Earth Day – which was held that same year. Gary’s simple but thoughtful design would go on to become the most iconic symbol of environmental action ever created. The symbol has circled the globe, evokes thought and action, it has no language barrier and never uses a single word. Since winning the contest in 1970 Gary has traveled the world pursuing his dreams in the field of Architecture and Planning. He currently lives in Baltimore, MD, according to an article from C. Malik on Redflag.org

Packaging labels and recycling symbols are now appearing on lots of everyday items, and help us to identify how different types of packaging can be recycled.

Here you can find a list of the different symbols and what they mean: Ecofrenzy.com

(Kislyi Alexander)

This is not the whole list of global problems. Many of us are not even aware of the depth of the problems. It is necessary to realize that the state of the environment depends on each person. But any inhabitant of the planet can perform simple daily actions that will help to improve the environment. For example, you can take waste paper and reduce the use of water, save energy and throw garbage in the trash, grow plants and use reusable items. The more people will comply with these rules, the more likely to save our planet.

Dmiry G.