Although this flow has prevented tsunami debris from approaching the islands, it carries a lot of trash from the Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California.

MSN: Survey Keeping Close Tabs on Japan Tsunami Debris

New York became something of a symbol of urban dysfunction: a city that nearly went bankrupt, a place where trash piled up amid a garbage strike and a massive blackout struck as the Son of Sam serial killer was on the loose.

WSJ: More move in than out of NYC; 1st time in decades

Kadyrbayev said he placed the backpack and fireworks along with trash from the apartment into a large trash bag and threw it into a garbage bin near the men's apartment, according to court papers.

NPR: For 3, Bomb Suspect's Friendship Leads To Charges

Schrader also ran attack ads linking Fitzpatrick to a trash-hauling company that dumped out-of-state garbage in Bucks County.

CNN: Fitzpatrick to claim open seat in Penn.

Growing up in Jaipur, the trash dumps used to be plentiful, and there was a garbage dump right by his house.

FORBES: Battling Hunger with Entrepreneurship

This is Puente Hills Landfill trash as geologic feature, so full of 60 years' worth of decomposing garbage that the methane it produces is pumped into generators that provide enough power for 70, 000 homes.

WSJ: Grappling With a Garbage Glut

And he describes the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an enormous expanse of the Pacific Ocean where currents concentrate the trash over a continent-sized area.

ECONOMIST: A history of waste

His aim during a 100-day voyage that will take him from San Francisco, California, to Sydney, Australia, is to find the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" between California and Japan -- a massive sea of plastic trash that environmentalists say could soon be larger than the continental United States.

CNN: Environmentalist: It's becoming a plastic world

With their trash collection reduced to every other week, Portland households have had to hone their recycling skills or pay more for bigger garbage cans, which are provided by the network of private haulers who pick up the trash for the city of 583, 000.

WSJ: Portland Creates Buzz by Cutting Garbage Pickups