| Do you remember the '70s television sitcom Sanford | | | | forming a nebulous, floating junk yard on the high seas. |
| and Son? It was a popular series about a | | | | About 80 percent of the debris nestled in the Great |
| cantankerous old man, name Fred and his son Lamont. | | | | Pacific Garbage Patch comes from land, much of |
| Together they owned a junkyard business which | | | | which is plastic bags, bottles and other consumer |
| primarily operated from their backyard. Crazy antics, | | | | products. Free-floating fishing nets make up another 10 |
| primarily instigated by Fred, were the premise of the | | | | percent, or about 705,000 tons, according to U.N. |
| show. However Fred never let the audience forget | | | | estimates. The rest comes largely from boaters, |
| how proud he was of the family business. Even back | | | | offshore oil rigs and large cargo ships, which drop |
| then Mr. Sanford knew how lucrative the trash and | | | | about 10,000 steel containers into the sea each year |
| recycling business was. If the item wasn't | | | | full of things like hockey pads, computer monitors, resin |
| biodegradable, Fred had it lying outside for sale! He in | | | | pellets and LEGO octopuses. |
| fact was a man ahead of his time. | | | | Right now there are hundreds of organizations working |
| Biodegradable refers to the process in which a | | | | feverishly to end this world-wide problem. As a |
| microorganism breaks down organic substances. The | | | | consumer you can do your part by carefully choosing |
| organic material is then absorbed by our environment. | | | | the way you buy and use products. For instance start |
| The biodegradable process affects all living matter, | | | | choosing paper bags or reusable shopping bags in lieu |
| ensuring that new organisms are the product of the | | | | of plastic at the check-out counter. Although this act |
| old. It is a perfect system of recycling that we need to | | | | albeit a small one, will eventually lead to greater results |
| take note and learn from. | | | | on a larger scale if everyone continues to do so. More |
| All waste is not biodegradable. Many of it is discarded | | | | importantly there are several ways in which your |
| in huge landfills or dumps. However not all waste ends | | | | recycling efforts can earn you some quick cash while |
| up at the dump. According to the Environmental | | | | improving the environment. A woman in China turned |
| Protection Agency it takes months to hundreds of | | | | her dumpster-diving efforts into a $1.5 billion dollars |
| years for non-biodegradable waste to breakdown. As | | | | business. |
| they decompose, tiny toxic bits seep into soils, lakes, | | | | Your dream probably isn't to be a junkyard dealer like |
| rivers, and the oceans. Case in point is the Great | | | | Fred Sanford. However there's nothing wrong with |
| Pacific Garbage Patch. This aquatic landfill stretches | | | | making a few bucks instead of throwing them away. |
| for hundreds of miles across the North Pacific Ocean, | | | | |