What if we dumped all our garbage into the oceans?

Keep in mind that your trash is no longer being dumped in landfills. Today, we are going to throw it all into the oceans.

How much garbage will it be?

How soon will all marine life change?

 Can this garbage finally fill our oceans completely?

We, humans, produce a lot of waste in a year. 2.1 billion tons, to be exact, is household waste. And every second, we throw out 60 tons of household waste worldwide. As new technologies are developed, 50 million tons of electronic waste is dumped every year.

Most plastics can take centuries to decay. And a huge pile of it is already floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific, consisting mostly of small pieces of plastic. And every year, 8.8 million tons of plastic accumulates here or in other parts of our oceans.

How big would this great Pacific trash can be if we dumped all our garbage there?

If you collect all the waste generated in a year and wrap it up, you will see a gigantic ball weighing up to 5,500 empire state buildings. That's a staggering amount of trash. And it's 25,000 times bigger than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. And the patch is already 1.6 million square kilometers (610,000 square miles).

To put this in perspective, the garbage we produce in a year can cover the surface of the planet 80 times. If all this waste accumulates in the oceans, it will destroy marine life. If we cover our oceans completely with garbage, sunlight will not be able to enter it. This will lower our oxygen levels and affect the health of marine animals.

It will destroy the hidden forest of the sea. These are the bacteria that are responsible for producing 10% of the oxygen you breathe. Their demise will have devastating effects on ecosystems around the world. All this waste will also carry many kinds of chemical pollutants all over the world. Some of these toxic compounds will remain in the ocean for decades.

These are known as permanent, biological and toxic compounds, commonly called PBTs. Think of a small fish that floats in water with more mercury. This little fish is eaten by a big fish.

That big fish is caught, and eating this big fish will increase the amount of mercury in your body. And it won't just happen to you. Some marine animals, such as whales, will transmit these toxins from generation to generation. This will weaken their immune system and even affect their reproduction. Apart from the oceans, all this will have very bad human consequences.


Chemicals and heavy metals from electronics waste will affect your central nervous and reproductive systems. You may already have microplastics inside your body. These are plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches).

At that time there will be more garbage in the sea than fish. You will see that many generations will perish. You might even go to your local seafood market and find out that they don't sell any fish. Jellyfish only. I don't know if I would like to eat it. Hopefully, you will get your hands on such a project. There are some serious problems in our waste management that will not be solved by dumping more garbage in the sea.