What does it mean when I say "garbage presence" in coastal zones? Take a look!

Six ring plastic holder, plastic cup, plastic bag

One night of fun, hundreds of years in the ocean

A popular boardwalk on a Monday morning

The morning after a storm.  Notice the blue oil container and overturned boat.

Plastic, styrofoam, wood flotsam.

Microdebris floating in the water column.

Birds looking for a tasty treat. Let's hope they don't mistake any of these plastics for food!

The location of study site number 1, with residents and visitors swimming in the ocean. Notice the garbage and lack of receptacle for the visitors to this beach!

Microplastics accumulating at the shoreline!

So many pieces of polymers, styrofoam, and other non-natural materials.

Garbage being swept away with the tide.

Meet Pedro Garcia-Gonzalez, recycler extraordinaire.

This is Pedro Garcia-Gonzalez, a man who walks the coasts of Veracruz city collecting plastic and glass bottles.  He returns the materials he collects to a recycling center, where they pay him dismally for them.  He was excited to share his story with me because he wanted me to be aware that the amount of garbage in Mexico existed for a reason: there is not enough incentive to collect the recyclable materials and return them to the recycling center 8 miles inland.  According to Pedro, the amount of work it takes to do this is not worth how much he gets paid, but his options are limited.

Microplastics accumulating on the shoreline

Microplastics accumulating at the shoreline, June 2013.  Notice the numerous plastic bottle caps, which take hundreds of years to decompose.  Marine life commonly mistakes these plastics for food, causing health and safety problems.

Will oceans remember humans long after they are gone? With some of these materials, they just might.

The beautiful Gulf of Mexico and Port of Veracruz.  

The writing on the rocks tells of how human want their presence to be remembered when they go.  With this box of beer bottles, they will be remembered in more ways than one. 

A boat, unable to be used, is left behind for natural processes to weather until it is no more. 

The yellow plastic runner from the side of a boat shows that debris is not only left by humans visiting the shorelines, but also by distant humans in the open sea. 

No need for cigarette boxes when the cigarettes are all gone. 

Plastic construction tubing.