If you put the destruction of the Earth, depletion of our natural resources, and desecration of our beautiful oceans aside, the trash cluttering our oceans is still costing us in other ways, namely, financially.

A report commissioned by the Marine Resource Conservation found that the 6.4 million tons of trash and debris littering the Asia-Pacific oceans are costing us roughly a billion dollars each year. The study, led by Alistair McIlgorm of the National Marine Science Center, also found that despite practices put in place to prevent the growth of this garbage pail, it continues to grow.

McIlgorm estimates that about 80% of the total ocean pollutants are coming from land based sources, more than half of it being plastic, but wood, rubber and sanitary products heftily contributing as well.

"Poor landfill practices are big contributors to marine debris, especially in Asia," said McIlgrom.

Year after year, the cost of this weighs on not only our planet and those who are desperately attempting to clean up this mess, but on the fishing and boat industries, who suffer from damages related to the debris.

"Whether they have to untangle plastic from a ship propellers or totally replace an outboard - it's costing industries a lot," he said.

How did they get the $1 billion figure? The study used a Japanese economic model, estimating damage caused by marine debris costing governments close to 0.3 percent of their GDP annually. McIlgrom says this totals at $1.265 billion across the 21 APEC economies. Australians have it bad as well, with marine garbage costing them approximately $6.5 million each year.

These figures might seem outlandish, but are actually quite conservative, as they don't factor in the total impact of marine rubbish (you know, clean up, wildlife, tourism, development and the like). Including these in the report would result in a much, much higher cost.

McIlgrom also looked at the amount of ocean trash today versus 30 years ago, and found astonishing differences. He speculates the cause of the rubbish growth is sheer laziness, and perhaps, over-consumption.

"If you took the levels [of rubbish] in 1980 it was much less than it is today, basically we've got lazy with our use of plastics."

The reports claim this cost is absolutely avoidable, and recommends governments refocus to implement proper landfill practices and prevent trash from entering waterways, versus trying to control it once it arrives. This would make more sense economically, considering 80% of the garbage is coming from land.

"For every 100 units of rubbish that enter the ocean, 15 percent float on the surface, 15 percent collect in the water column near the shore and the rest sinks to the bottom of the deep ocean," said McIlgrom.

"Once debris enters the water and becomes diluted, it becomes much more expensive per unit of rubbish to pick up."

One final suggestion from the study author is to place nets at the end of estuaries, where rivers & streams meet the ocean, to act as a filter for any garbage making its way down to the great blue sea.

What do you think would be the most logical solution for preventing build up of ocean debris?

via Discovery