According to statistics, approximately 2 million more plastic bags will be thrown away by the time you read this article. Not only that, it is said that 1 trillion plastic bags are thrown away every year in the world. These are the numbers that we can only reach with bags. Well, do you know how many kilos of garbage you produce in a day?
Ocean and Trash
In the United States, a person produces an average of 773 kilograms of garbage each year. Worldwide, more than 2 billion tons of garbage is produced every year... The following statistic also provides us with important data on the distribution of world waste: A US citizen produces 7 times more garbage than an Ethiopian. So where does all this garbage go?
 |
| Garbage |
Garbage Continent
In the movies, the Pacific Ocean, where captains are lost or attacked by pirates, almost embraces the garbage in the water!
Of course, I did not follow the garbage one by one to see if they were going there, but this embrace ceremony has reached such a level that the garbage island on the ocean is now engraved on the maps. Do not take care of what I call island; because I'm talking about 3.4 million square kilometers of garbage, not as small as you think.
Scientists describe this area, also called the 7th continent, like the Great Pacific Garbage Area. It is said that there are wastes from 1955 in this garbage pile, most of which are between Hawaii and California. These are human garbage that enters the water and reaches the Pacific Ocean after a long journey.
International Garbage Trade
Garbage collected by cleaners does not pass into the Pacific Ocean after being dumped in your garbage container. Their journeys are quite different and varied. So much so that there are even countries that aspire to that garbage that you throw into the containers you approached with fear of cats.
For example, China, which was the most populous country in the world until a few years ago, was importing tons of garbage from England as if the garbage they produced was not enough for them. With the withdrawal from the Chinese market in Malaysia, Turkey, Poland, countries such as Indonesia and the Netherlands Tons of garbage started to be imported from England.
Turkey, for example, between 2017- 2018 has imported 80 000 tons of garbage from the UK. Not only Britain but many countries in the world continue to export garbage to various countries. Countries' garbage trade actually gives us important clues about the journey of garbage on land.
What Comes Out of Garbage?
The garbage collected by our cleaning brothers in the evening is first taken to landfills. Then the garbage collected here on certain days of the week is transferred to various additive waste management facilities. In these facilities, organic garbage and others are separated. Afterward, for example, the toothpaste tube you throw away is sent to a different facility to be recycled, while the skin of the banana you eat is fermented and methane gas is produced from it. The methane gas produced is collected in tanks and then burned to generate electricity.
Moreover, during all these processes, waste heat is generated and this heat is used in greenhouses. Non-organic wastes that cannot be recycled are offered to the industry as fuel.