Wasted wilderness
“It’s only one straw,” said 8 billion people. Anywhere, everywhere, all around us, garbage is a ‘gift’ from us, that Mother Nature never asked for. There is not a single place that isn’t plagued by it, however, some have it worse than others. Let’s uncover a few fascinating places that are appalling reminders of our heedless garbage disposal habits with Pavani Bahal, X C & Sharanya Dobhal, XI XI E, AIS Vas 6.
World’s unique space graveyard
Place: Point Nemo
Location: South Pacific Ocean
Area: 22 million km²
Fact: Point Nemo is so far from land, the nearest humans are astronauts on board ISS, flying 400 km above the zone! It’s precisely this remoteness that makes it the world’s space graveyard. Spacefaring nations have been dumping their junk in the area since the 1970s, entailing 263 pieces of space debris that includes Russia’s Mir space station, and NASA’s first space station Skylab. The ISS, once it retires in 2030, will join the other space debris here.
World’s highest garbage dump
Place: Mount Everest
Location: Nepal
Area: 1243 km², 8850m high
Fact: At least 600 people attempt to summit the mountain every climbing season, leaving behind an average of 50 tonnes of waste. With climbers littering the slopes with tents, food, and human faeces, the fragile environment stands threatened. The government and NGOs are taking active measures with the popular deposit initiative where anyone visiting the peak needs to deposit 4000 USD, which is refundable if the person returns with 8 kg garbage.
World’s largest e-waste dump
Place: Agbogbloshie
Location: Ghana
Area: 1.1 km², 45m high
Fact: This one puts the spotlight on the darker side of the global tech industry and the massive waste it generates. It is a central economy centre of Ghana with deplorable working conditions. Receiving 237,000 tonnes of e-waste from Europe and North America, mostly on the pretext of ‘second-hand’ or ‘reusable’ electronics, Agbogbloshie has become the world’s largest e-waste dumping site, earning itself a spot in the top 10 most polluted places in the world.
World’s exploding fashion dump
Place: Atacama Desert
Location: Chile
Area: 105,000 km²
Fact: The area has been labelled as the ‘driest fashion factory’ as towering piles of discarded clothing spanning 741 acres, roughly the size of Central Park, litter the desert. Fashion giants like Zara, and H&M are among the common culprits. Each year, around 59,000 tonnes of second-hand clothing arrives at the Iquique port in Chile’s Alto Hospicio free zone. While some of it is sold, a staggering unsold 39,000 tonnes end up dumped in the Atacama Desert.
World’s largest ocean dumpsite
Place: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Location: North Pacific Ocean
Area: 1.6 million km² approx
Fact: This patch is generated by 79,000 tonnes of garbage, with litter dating back to the 1960s, and 100,000 tonnes of plastic floating in it. It comprises the Western Garbage Patch, located near Japan, and the Eastern Garbage Patch, located between Hawaii and California. This patch is very difficult to clean without disturbing the sea life. However, The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit org, has removed 206,00 kg of plastic from it.