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Posted Tue Dec 16 2008: from Forbes, via CBC:
Inside the world's superdumps http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1229437089
The largest garbage dump in the world is roughly twice the size of the continental U.S. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a continent-sized constellation of discarded shoes, bottles, bags, pacifiers, plastic wrappers, toothbrushes and every other type of trash imaginable, floating in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Hawaii and San Francisco.... Truckloads of printers, fax machines, hard drives and all kinds of defunct electronics arrive daily in Guiyu from warehouses in the port of Nanhai, where the imported waste comes ashore in sea-going containers. Roughly half these computers and electronic components are recycled; the rest are dumped. Nobody knows for sure, but evidence suggests most of the discarded components are dumped locally, despite the substantial risk that the waste, laden with toxic lead, mercury and cadmium, will contaminate local soil and water supplies.... Old ships are, more often than not, chock full of toxic chemicals, like insulation with asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls in hoses, foam insulation and paint. In addition, most ships contain huge quantities of heavy metals like lead, mercury and cadmium. If ships are not properly dismantled, they contaminate the area where they are broken down.
[Read more stories about: electronic waste, plastic gyre, toxic buildup, plastic problems, heavy metals]

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'Doc Michael says:
Garbage? It's out of sight, out of mind, for me. Just toss it and forget it!

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More stories:
  • Last decade is the warmest on record, scientists say
  • More than 2 trillion tons of ice melted in Arctic since '03
  • (Inside the world's superdumps)
  • Ramping down the toxins we eat
  • Jumbo squids in acid: What future oceans hold in store

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