(Image Source: Gizmodo)

BY JIM FLINK

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

Runaway trash is racing across the Pacific.
The months’ later, ripple effect from Japan’s tsunami.
KTBC reports on what some are calling a massive island of floating trash heading toward Hawaii.

“Twenty million tons of debris from the tsunami in japan is drifting toward the U.S. 3 TV sets, refrigerators are traveling faster than expected. The ship was two-thousand miles away from Japan, passing through the midway islands when the crew spotted the debris. Researchers are revising their predictions, saying it will reach Hawaii in less than two years and the west coast in three years. Scientists say they're keeping a close eye on where the debris is heading because of its potential trheat to small ships and U.S. coastlines.”

Initially, the debris wasn’t expected to hit the US for  as many as 5 years.
Now, it appears to be well ahead of schedule.
ABC gives an idea of just how much trash we’re talking about.

“That debris is flowing towards hawaii and the western coast of the u.S. Houses, boats, cars, and entire neighborhoods pulled out to sea. The dramatic images seen in March when a devastating tsunami hit Japan. And now, all of that debris is on a direct collision course with the pacific coast of the U.S.. Up to 20 million tons of garbage, possibly toxic, floating in an area estimated to be twice the size of Texas. And it may be coming sooner than expected.”

The average drift rate across the Pacific Ocean is between five and ten miles a day.  But a Russian trading ship ran into the debris 300 miles ahead of schedule, less than 2,000 miles from Hawaii.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the debris could arrive on the coasts of Oregon and Washington in 2014. California will most likely be spared. And while some are up in arms over the environmental impact, others note, this is the floating remanants of of a broken nation.


“Most of the debris likely didn’t start out as garbage, but rather as pieces of people’s lives. Such a fact lends poignancy to the bits of plastic and wood, both large and small, we can expect in this country.”