Let's Talk Trash: Ocean Trash

Makeover of Versova Beach in Mumbai, India

It takes a million years for a glass bottle to deteriorate and 450 for a plastic one. That's why the trash problem is getting bigger all the time. Trash is unhealthy for humans and deadly for marine animals.

Now is the time to do something, and we are the ones to do it.  That is what the residents of Mumbi, India, decided.  One by one they joined together to remove 2.7 million pounds of trash from Versova Beach.  It has been called 'the world's largest beach clean up'.  Watch the video to become inspired to help.

Here are some ideas of how we too can join the fight against trash.

• Participate in local cleanups in our area.
• Reduce the amount of waste we personally produce.
• Buy reusable instead of throw away items, like refillable drink bottles instead of disposal.  
• Recycle everything we can: bottles, cans, cell phones, containers, etc.

Let's...

be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Research Sources:

"The Global Plastic Breakdown: How Microplastics Are Shredding Ocean Health."  NOAA Sea Grant: National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.  Web.  01 Sept. 2018. <https://seagrant.noaa.gov/News/Article/ArtMID/1660/ArticleID/251/The-Global-Plastic-Breakdown-How-Microplastics-Are-Shredding-Ocean-Health>.

2.  "What We Know About: Plastic Marine Debris."  NOAA Marine Debris Program: NOAA National Ocean Service.  Web.  01 Sept. 2018.

<https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/Gen_Plastic-hi_9-20-11_0.pdf>. 

3.  "Approximate Time it Takes for Garbage to Decompose in the Environment."   

Web.  01 Sept. 2018.  <https://www.des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/coastal/trash/documents/marine_debris.pdf>.

Image Credits:

1.  Empty Plastic Bottle by HNDPTESBC is licensed under CCO Creative Commons.