1. Eliminating Trash
Debris in the SeasCaitie Mack
Forest Policy
Only you can prevent trash debris!
When you think of the ocean do you picture trash debris floating
on the surface of the water? Trash debris is what future
generations are going to think about when they picture the
ocean unless policy is put into place to reduce the amounts of
trash debris in the North Pacific Ocean, which would ultimately
lead to eliminating the trash debris in oceans in the future. The
purpose of this policy brief is to educate United States
Congressman of California Alan Lowenthal of the affects of ocean
trash debris in the North Pacific Ocean. This policy brief will also
explore the various ways that trash debris in the North Pacific
Ocean can be reduce and ultimately be eliminated. There are
various types of trash debris, such as plastic bags, bottles, can,
and lids, just to name a few. This policy brief will be focusing on
one category of trash debris, which happens to be plastic. One
recommendation that I have for eliminating the amount of trash
would be to incentivize citizens that collect and return plastic
trash debris from oceans and beaches to plastic redemption.
Policy
Brief

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Trash debris in the North Pacific Ocean of the United
States is not only affecting the marine life population, but trash
debris is also affecting the aesthetic value of the ocean. As a
United States Congressman of California you may be asking
yourself, who should be responsible for the clean up of the trash
debris affected oceans as well as who should pay the costs for
those clean ups. It is estimated that every year more than 11
billion pounds of trash debris ends up in oceans worldwide. Out
of the 11 billion pounds of trash debris a majority of it is plastics,
which takes hundreds of years to degrade.
In the world there is not one ocean that doesn’t have
trash debris in it. Marine mammals are being entangled in
plastic and other marine life is mistaking the plastic pieces as
food, which can cause starvation, chocking, and intestinal
blockage to occur. Scientists have also begun investigating the
effects of toxic pollutants on fish and marine populations, which
can cause effects to human health if consumed. The largest trash
debris area, also know as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is
located in North Pacific Ocean near California. The trash debris
located in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bounded to this
area due to the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. An ocean gyre is
created using the wind patterns of the Earth as well as the
rotational force of the planet.
You may be wondering how trash debris in the North
Pacific Ocean can affect my own life and the answer is simple.
Water is an essential resource to human well-being and when
the trash debris is affecting the water it is also affecting the
lives of humans. The trash debris also has huge costs
associated with the clean up, and taxpayer and local
government dollars cover the clean up costs. “The NRDC
[Natural Resource Defense Council] analyzed a survey of 95
California communities and found their total reported annual
costs for preventing litter [trash debris] from becoming
pollution is $428 million per year” (Solutions to Plastic
Pollution in our Oceans 2014).
As Director of the Trash Free Seas Department of the
Ocean Conservancy, it is our mission to “educate and empower
citizens to take action on behalf of the ocean”.
Every year more
than 11 billion
pounds of trash
debris ends up in
oceans
worldwide

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Spring 2016
The ocean is an important part of our
organization as well as the marine life that need
a healthy ocean in order to survive.
As an organization, we see that the trash debris
problem “can seem overwhelming, but it is
entirely preventable”. This is the reasoning why
our organization “is engaging its network of
partners and volunteers to stop the flow of trash
at the source before it has a chance to reach the
water and threaten wildlife, or soil our beaches
and depress local economics” (Ocean
Conservancy 2014 ).
The Ocean Conservancy has organized
various volunteer ocean clean ups, which
started in 1986. Today more than 650,000
people volunteer to assist our organization in
cleaning up the oceans around the globe.
Though our organization does the best we can
to clean up the oceans, it’s not enough. We need
policy makes like you, US Congressman Alan
Lowenthal, to create policy that will eliminate
the ocean debris from leaving the source and
traveling to the ocean.
Various land- based laws and ocean-
based laws have been put into place to reduce
the amount of trash debris in the oceans. The
Beaches Environmental Assessment Coastal
Health (BEACH) Act is a land-based law that
amended the Clean Water Act in 2000. This act
was created “to reduce the risk of disease to
users of the Nation’s coastal recreation waters”
(Laws, Regulations, and Treaties 2013). The
Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control
Act (MPPRCA) was created “to study the
adverse effects of improper disposal of plastics
on the environment and on waste disposal, and
various methods to reduce or eliminate such
adverse effects” (Laws, Regulations, and
Treaties 2013). Congress passed the Marine
Debris Bill in 2012, which was a modest victory
for the environmental community. This bill
“ensures that the Federal Government continues
to analyze, map, and coordinate with states to
prevent and clean up marine debris, the trash in
our oceans and on our coastlines” (Advocate for
Healthy Oceans n.d.). Though these laws have
explored the various ways to protect and reduce
the amount of trash debris in the ocean once it
has reached the ocean, none of these laws has
looked at stopping the trash debris from
reaching the ocean in the first place, such as
creating laws and regulations for plastic product
producers.
One recommendation that I would make
for a course of action for trash debris in oceans
would be to either fine or penalize plastic
producers. The fine or penalty can be based on
the amount of plastic the producer produces in a
year, so that each plastic producer will pay a
different amount. The other option would be for
the fine or penalty to be a set amount, so that
each plastic producer is paying the same
amount as other plastic producers. The
monetary amount that is collected from the fine
or penalty will be used to cover the costs of
More than 650,000
people volunteer
globally to assist in
trash debris clean up

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Spring 2016
plastic infected oceans located near the location the
plastic producing plants. By the plastic producers
pay the costs to clean up the ocean the taxpayers
money can be reallocated to other government
projects that need attention.
Another recommendation I have for cleaning up the
oceans from trash debris is to create a policy that
incentivizes the collection and return of plastics,
which can then be transformed for other purposes.
This is concept is similar to the ability to collect and
return aluminum cans for a monetary value. This
concept, though, allows for the collection and return
of plastics any shapes, sizes, and types. The plastic
will be weighed and the monetary value will be
based on the weight of the plastic. To cover the costs
of the monetary value to citizens for returning
plastics, there will be an added cost to products
made of plastic at the time of purchase. The
returning of plastic can be available to citizens in the
trash debris affected areas, such as the North Pacific
Ocean area of California. This policy gives citizens the
incentive to go to ocean and pick up any plastics they
find and return the plastics for a monetary value.
The last recommendation I have for reducing
the amount of trash debris in the oceans is to provide
various facilities along the coasts, where garbage
barges can dispose of their trash contents properly.
Garbage barges are large ships that transport trash
from the area the trash is produced to the area where
the trash is disposed. For example, trash from Hawaii
is transported to the lower 48 states to be disposed.
The trash being transported is often not secured
properly and can end up in the ocean, which cause an
increase of trash debris to occur. This policy should
create regulation to be sure that trash that is being
transported is being properly secured before
traveling across the ocean. The garbage barges
should travel to designated facilities that would be
located throughout the coasts, especially the Pacific
Ocean coasts of California. These designated facilities
can use the
trash to produce electricity by burning the trash
that is collected. For example, the energy-from-
waste plant in Alexandria, Virginia produces
electricity for thousands of homes by burning
350,000 tons of trash per year.
By having the ability to reallocate
taxpayers money to other governmental projects
would be an advantage of this policy
recommendation to fine or penalize plastic
producers. If the plastic producers are fined or
penalized based on the amount of plastic the
producer produces it is a possibility that the
producer will reduce the amount of plastic that is
produced in order to lessen the amount the
producer is fined or penalized. This scenario is
found to be a disadvantage to the global and
national plastic product demand, which could
cause the price of plastic to increase. Another
advantage of this policy would be if plastic
producers reduce the amount of plastic then a
plastic alternative has the potential of being
developed.
The policy that incentivizes citizens to
collection and return of plastics has the ability
remove amounts of trash debris from oceans,
which is an advantage to the policy. This policy
also has the ability to get citizens outside in
nature and see the affects of humans first hand.
An additional advantage of this policy is that the

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monetary value awarded to citizens for
collecting and returning plastics does not come
from the taxpayer’s money, but only from
citizens who choose to purchase products that
contain plastics. A disadvantage of this policy
would be finding facilities that have the ability
to storage and convert, such as melting, the
plastics into usable pieces for repurposing.
The policy that reduces the amount of
trash debris in the ocean by providing trash
burning facilities has the ability to reduce and
ultimately eliminate the number of garbage
barges traveling across the ocean, which is an
advantage to the policy. In order to ensure that
the trash being transported across the ocean is
being secured properly someone would have to
inspect and regulation every barge, which could
be costly, time consuming, and inefficient. This
part of the proposed policy would be a
disadvantage. Another disadvantage of this
proposed policy would that it would be costly to
build and regulate the various designated
facilities that would be used to collect and burn
the trash for electricity. Burning trashing for
electricity is a new way to reduce the amount of
trash that is being disposed of in landfills and a
way to produce electricity for homes, which is
another advantage to this policy. Since burning
trash for electricity is a newer technology many
people are skeptical about the affects of this
approach to reducing the amount of trash,
which is a disadvantage.
After exploring the possible advantages
and disadvantages of all three proposed policies,
I believe the most logical policy to attempt to
put into affect would be the second proposed
policy. The second proposed policy discusses
the possibilities of incentivizing citizens to go to
the trash debris affected coasts and collect the
plastic that the citizens find. After the citizens
have collected the plastic that they found, the
citizens can return the plastic for a monetary
value at designated plastic return facilities. The
monetary value that the citizens receive at the
time of return will be added to the cost of plastic
products at the time of the purchase. I feel this is
the logical policy to choose due to the fact that
the policy ultimately penalizes plastic product
purchasers and rewards citizens who choose to
assist in cleaning up the trash debris affect
areas. I also choose this policy out of the other
proposed policies due to the fact that this policy
doesn’t use taxpayer money to provide the
monetary incentive to citizens who collect and
return plastics. The only time taxpayer money
has the potential of being used is to build or
remodel buildings that will be used as the
plastic redemption centers. Though that
scenario might never happen if centers that
recycle already to be the plastic redemption
centers as well. This proposed policy is just the
start to more trash debris policies being
developed to assist in reducing and ultimately
eliminated trash debris in oceans. It’s not about
what the ocean can do for you, but what you can
do for the ocean.

6. Bibliography
Advocate for Healthy Oceans . marine-conservation.org (accessed February 18 , 2015).
This website discusses the impacts that trash debris is having on oceans as well as marine
wildlife worldwide using statistics. This website also discusses the important impacts that
lawmakers and officials can have on the quality of oceans through polices, laws, and regulations. This
website also discusses the Marine Debris Bill that was recently passed in Congress.
Beverage Container Recycling: It's in your hands. 1995,2015. calrecycle.ca.gov (accessed February 18,
2015).
This website discusses the process of current redemption centers, such as where the money
comes from that returners receive. This website also discusses where various redemption centers
are located as well as where that are located specifically in the state of California. Lastly, this website
discusses the various symbols to look for to make sure that certain products are accepted at
redemption centers.
Factsheet: Marine Debris . August 20, 2012. water.epa.gov (accessed February 18 , 2015).
This website discusses what marine debris or trash debris actually is and the different types
of trash debris. This website also discusses where marine debris comes from as well as what the
marine debris does to the environment. Lastly, this website discusses what the EPA or
Environmental Protection Agency is doing to prevent marine debris.
Great Pacific Garbage Patch . 1996-2015. education.nationalgeographic.com (accessed February 18 , 2015).
This website discusses where the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located as well as what causes
the garbage patch to occur. This website also uses a visual diagram to show the exact location of the
garbage patch and how the debris is trapped in a "trash vortex". Lastly, this website discusses the
possible solutions to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Jones , Leslie. Have You Heard of the Garbage Barge? October 15, 2012. wasteawaygroup.com (accessed
February 18 , 2015).
In her article, Leslie Jones discusses what is a garbage barge and why the garbage barge is
used. This article also discusses background information about garbage barges as well as when these
types of barges were first put into use. Lastly, this article discusses a family owned waster hauling
company, Borden Waste-Away.
Laws, Regulations, and Treaties. April 9, 2013. water.epa.gov (accessed February 18, 2015).
This website discusses that various ocean-based and land-based laws that deal with trash
debris. These laws include the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act as well as the
BEACH Act. Lastly, this website discusses the purpose of laws and when each law was established.

7. Ocean Conservancy . "Turning the Tide on Trash." Ocean Conservancy . 2014 . oceanconservancy.org
(accessed February 18, 2015).
This annual report discusses the affects that trash debris is having on the health of the ocean
as well as the health of marine wildlife. This report also discusses the various approaches of the
Ocean Conservancy to reduce the amount of trash debris in the oceans. This report uses various
statistics to discuss the trash debris that is accumulating in oceans worldwide.
Pyper, Julia , and ClimateWire. Does Burning Garbage to Produce Electricity Make Sense? August 26, 2011.
scientificamerican.com (accessed February 18 , 2015).
In their article, Julia Pyper and ClimateWire discuss the progress that energy-from-waste
plants are having in the United States. This article also using the case study of Alexandria, Virginia to
discuss the possibility of burning trash for electricity. Lastly, this article discusses how trash can be
turned into energy to offset emissions.
Solutions to Plastic Pollution in our Oceans. March 8, 2014. nrdc.org (accessed Febraury 18 , 2015).
This website discusses the possible solutions to plastic pollution in oceans as well as how
plastic pollution can affect the lives of individuals. This website also discusses what individuals can
do to reduce the amount of trash debris that ends up in the oceans. This website also contains a small
video that visually shows viewers the affects of trash debris.
Spring 2016