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Some Facts About Junk in Our Watershed You Should Know
Cigarette Filters
- Cigarette filters are not biodegradable; they are made of plastic, not paper and cotton.
- Cigarette litter lingers in our environment up to 50 years.
- Cigarette butts are lightweight and can easily move through our storm drains into our waterways and water supplies.
- Water leaches the toxins from cigarette litter, making it deadly to most aquatic life. In fact, the toxins released from one cigarette butt left in a gallon of water for one day will kill about 80 percent of aquatic life added to that water.
- More than 13,000 cigarette butts were collected from inland and coastal waterways during the 2010 Ventura County Coastal Cleanup Day.
Source: Clean Virginia Waterways , The Ocean Conservancy
Food Wrappers and Foam Containers
- One in five items found in litter is food-related.
- Plastic foam from items like cups does not break down naturally; it can stay in the environment for 50 years.
- Ten percent of all litter is food wrappers.
- Regular drink cups from fast food restaurants take up to five years to biodegrade.
- More than 9,500 pieces of food related packaging and utensils were collected from inland and coastal waterways during the 2010 Ventura County Coastal Cleanup Day.
Source: Don't Mess With Texas, Valley Vista Services, The Ocean Conservancy
Paper
- For every ton of paper that is recycled, 17 trees are saved.
- In this decade, Americans will throw away almost 5 million tons of office paper and nearly 10 tons of newspaper.
- Each person in the United States uses about 675 pounds of paper a year.
- 40 percent of all waste is paper.
- More than 1,500 paper bags, alone, were collected from inland and coastal waterways during the 2010 Ventura County Coastal Cleanup Day.
Sources: Coshocton County (Ohio) Litter Prevention and Recycling Office, www.recycleit.com and Georgia-Pacific Corp.
Glass
- 6 percent of all waste is glass.
- Glass bottles can stay in our environment up to a million years.
- In this decade, Americans will throw away more than 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars.
- Glass is infinitely reusable and recyclable.
- More than 1,900 glass beverage bottles were collected from inland and coastal waterways during the 2010 Ventura County Coastal Cleanup Day.
Sources: Georgia-Pacific Corp. , The Rosemary Garden and www.recycleit.comThe Ocean Conservancy
Plastic
- More than 80 percent of Americans reuse plastic products and packaging in their homes.
- It takes 36 two-liter bottles to produce one square yard of carpet.
- Plastic bottles can stay in our environment for up to 450 years.
- Five recycled plastic bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.
- More than 12,000 plastic items, including bottles, bags, 6-pack holders and were collected from inland and coastal waterways during the 2010 Ventura County Coastal Cleanup Day.
Sources: Georgia-Pacific Corp. , www.plasticsresource.com, Erie County (Ohio) Recycles, The Rosemary Garden and www.recycleit.comThe Ocean Conservancy
Aluminum Cans
- Aluminum cans stay in our environment up to 200 years.
- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning for almost 20 hours or power a television for three hours.
- 20 cans can be made from recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new can.
- Enough aluminum is thrown away every three months to rebuild every commercial airplane in America.
- More than 900 aluminum cans were collected from inland and coastal waterways during the 2010 Ventura County Coastal Cleanup Day.
Sources: The Rosemary Garden, www.recycleit.com, www.recycleitnow.netThe Ocean Conservancy
Pet Waste
- Animal waste may contain harmful organisms such as Giardia, Salmonella and E. coli that can be transmitted to humans and other animals by ingesting contaminated water.
- Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the typical dog excretes three quarters of a pound of waste per day—or 274 pounds per year!
- 40% of Americans do not clean up after their dogs.
- A single gram of dog feces can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which are known to cause cramps, diarrhea, intestinal illness, and serious kidney disorders in humans.
- There are about 210,000 dogs living in Ventura County, at 274 pounds per year per dog and only 60% of owners cleaning up there are still 10,060,313 pounds of dog poop lying in our watershed.
Sources: EPA, Ventura County dog population estimate from VC Animal Control.
