America’s tropical paradise is being inundated with garbage. The culprit? Pretty much the entire world. The growing trash problem in Hawaii is caused by a perfect storm of geography and ocean currents combined with poor waste management, to devastating effect.
Due to its location in the Pacific, Hawaii has become a catch-all for much of the world’s trash. About half of this is plastic waste, which makes its way through the water until the normal flow of the currents deposits it on Hawaiian shores. The north and east facing beaches are the hardest hit, with literally tons of trash washing up each year.
The growing problem was at first being attributed to the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan, but collection and examination of the trash has shown this is not the case. Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) found very little debris resulting from this devastating tidal wave. Instead, what is littering Hawaii’s once pristine beaches is common waste that ends up in the oceans and waterways the world over.
Despite a massive cleanup by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which netted a whopping 57 tons of debris from the northwestern islands in 2014, the trashy turmoil continues.
It should come as no surprise that Hawaii’s growing trash problem is having a negative impact on local wildlife. Seabirds have been suffering ill health due to ingesting plastic particles. Coral reefs are threatened by the waves of garbage, and unique species could be especially vulnerable. Scientists recently discovered a new species of sponge in Hawaiian waters, the world’s largest, so very little is yet known about the species itself much less how toxic trash might affect it.
While making up about half the garbage, small pieces of plastic are not the lone problem. Larger items like tires, discarded fishing gear, and even scuttled vessels have made their way onto Hawaiian shores. The effects of marine trash can go far beyond the beachfronts it washes up on. Microplastics — tiny particles resulting from the breakup of larger pieces of plastic — are often mistaken for food and eaten by fish and other marine life. This means the garbage you carelessly toss aside today could one day end up on your dinner plate.
Wrapping up our post on the growing trash problem in hawaii, we thought you might also like: The Human Role in the Destruction of Wildlife Habitat as well as Habitat Destruction: A Human Problem!
Featured Image from Andrei Ciobanu/Unsplash
