5 Gyres - Understanding Plastic Pollution Through Exploration, Education, and Action

Lightweight plastics such as plastic bags, films and wraps are commonly referred to by recyclers and waster management professionals as 'blow trash'.  Blow trash is amongst the worst offenders with regard to plastic pollution because thin, flimsy plastic like High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) which plastic bags are made from, have the uncanny ability to do what no other bag can do: fly.  

This is a huge problem in Argentina, even though bag policies have been enacted in several cities and provinces, enforcement isn't happening. Plastic bag policies have been in effect for 4 years in the province of Buenos Aires, but it's still common for grocery stores to hand out plastic bags without interference from law enforcement and policymakers.  

This is especially disturbing in the southern region of Patagonia, a place known as 'the land of the living wind' where prevailing westerly winds blow from Andean peaks, down across the steppe, and out to the Atlantic. When open air landfills and wind mix, it's easy to see the alpha of the marine plastic pollution omega.  It's a conveyor built of pollution. This problem isn't relegated to Argentina however, it exists everywhere-- I've sat on a beach in Uruguay watching plastic bags flutter in the breeze above bathers in the ocean, I've walked on a street in Cape Town, South Africa, witnessing the mighty wind known locally as 'The Doctor' carrying plastic bags to sea. 

Often, industry says, 'plastic bags aren't the problem, littering is the problem.'  Well, here's a case in point that proves that that isn't entirely accurate. Countless bags, films, and wraps from open air landfills take flight and enter the ocean even after 'proper disposable.'  Below is a panorama of an open air landfill near the Andes Mountains, adjacent to the sea affected by Patagonian winds. 

This proclivity for HDPE to blow in the wind is often the reason cited by municipalities in curbside recycling streams to disallow plastic bags (well that, and the market for recycled HDPE for recycling is terrible).

What continually astonishes me, when I look at images of pollution in desolate lands like the one below, is this:  "When and How did this become okay?"