Introduction

Abstract

In traveling the world one quickly grows accustomed to the high densities of trash accumulated in the coastal areas surrounding cities of developing countries. The transition from the rural, agrarian, self-sustaining way of life in undeveloped regions to the urban, industrial, service-oriented way of life in the fully developed regions generally encompasses a solid waste generation and disposal evolution that is highly relevant to the marine debris problem. At the rural-agrarian level, wastes are minimal: they are mostly organic or aggressively reused; otherwise, there is virtually no solid waste disposal system. With the dramatic increase in the development and urbanization of rural areas, however, there comes an equally dramatic increase in per capita generation of persistent wastes without concomitant increases in waste collection and disposal systems (see Fig. 22.0). Meanwhile, at the fully developed end of this spectrum, per capita generation of persistent wastes is huge, but efficient collection and disposal systems typically are in place.