3. Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean Justin Berton, October 19, 2007 Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas, according to marine biologists. The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii. "With the winds blowing in and the currents in the gyre going circular, it's the perfect environment for trapping," Eriksen said. "There's nothing we can do about it now, except do no more harm."

5. Pictured: One Sea Turtle’s Worth of Plastic By Brandon Keim March 22, 2011 Joining the Laysan albatross as icons of ocean plastic pollution are sea turtles, which consume bellyfuls of debris while swimming through Earth’s five great ocean garbage patches. Pictured are the stomach contents of a juvenile sea turtle accidentally captured off the coast of Argentina.

6. Mon March 10, 2008 Prescription drugs found in drinking water across U.S. (AP) -- A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows. Officials in Philadelphia say testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water. To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

7. Rocket fuel chemical found in water, produce December 1, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government has found traces of a rocket fuel chemical in organic milk in Maryland, green leaf lettuce grown in Arizona and bottled spring water from Texas and California. Sufficient amounts of perchlorate can affect the thyroid, potentially causing delayed development and other problems. But Environmental Protection Agency official Kevin Mayer called for calm, saying in an interview Tuesday: "Alarm is not warranted. That is clear." Asked whether that level of chemical in milk was worrisome, Mayer, the EPA's regional perchlorate coordinator for Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, said, "The answer is, we don't know yet."

8. BBC 10 September, 2004 UN warns of pesticide 'time-bomb ’ Stockpiles have built up as pesticide products have been banned. The UN has warned that huge stockpiles of toxic chemical waste from obsolete pesticides are a "time bomb" for East Europe and the developing world. Its Food and Agriculture Organization has urged assistance for the disposal of the chemicals, which it says are often stored at unmanaged sites. Such stockpiles threaten the health of rural communities, says the FAO.

12. US Domestic Waste

18. Reducing the Number of Landfills

29. US Recycling Rates

33. http://www.ci.urbana.il.us/ “ quick links” “ recycling”

34. TIME Making Recycling Really Pay Friday, Apr. 11, 2008 By BRYAN WALSH Ron Gonen co-founded RecycleBank in 2004 with a simple idea: that people want to recycle, but they just need a little push. Here's how it works: every family on a garbage route is issued a special container with a computer chip. When garbage trucks pick up the recycling, they weigh the container and record how much each family is recycling by weight. The more you recycle, the more RecycleBank points you earn, which can be redeemed for offers at merchants like CVS/pharmacy. http://www.recyclebank.com/