No doubt much of this river rubbish will end up adding to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which may already be the size of Russia.
The problem of on-shore dumping is highlighted in David Foster Wallace's dystopian novel "Infinite Jest" (1996). It is set not far into the future, at a time when the USA's incontinent consumption has resulted a huge national rubbish dump. It covers most of New England and is so toxic that it cannot be entered safely. The USA is the dominant member of the Organisation of North American Nations and uses its power to transfer the dump, which it terms the Great Concavity, to Canada (national symbol, the American eagle plus a maple leaf).
Mexico is the third O.N.A.N. nation (symbol, the American eagle plus a sombrero). It is not affected directly but has problems of its own with its Mexico City dump (already about 22 miles long in 2018). However, Canadians are not best pleased at this gift and various secessionist groups have been formed, including The Wheelchair Terrorists. They infiltrate the USA to search for a film (The Entertainment) which has proved so toxically addictive that many people have entertained themselves to death with it. (Cut to 2018 UK and recent reports of kids who get sick because they can't tear themselves away from their screens.) The WTAs hope to use this as a WMD against the US population.
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