Recycling has been part of the American psyche for the better part of 40 years. Beginning in the early 1980s, our society decided to start making a better effort to recycle plastics, paper, glass, and a few other materials. But for most of us, seeing the fruits of our recycling labors has been fleeting. We assume recycling works because we are told it does. Yet we have never seen any viable proof.
Well, we now have at least one tangible example. It is an example demonstrating what happens when a recycling plan comes full circle. It can be discovered by looking into the operations of a nonprofit organization known as The Ocean Cleanup.
Addressing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Perhaps you have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a large concentration of garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean. The garbage patch is approximately 617,000 square miles in total area. That is a lot of trash. The Ocean Cleanup was formed in 2013 to do something about it.
Founders wanted to slowly reduce the size of the garbage patch while simultaneously preventing additional trash from flowing into the world’s oceans from polluted rivers. But like every nonprofit, they need … Read the rest