As if people don’t have enough to worry about, here’s something else to add to the list. I have been finding information online about huge amounts of plastic trash floating around like islands in the Pacific Ocean. Some online sources claimed estimates of vast areas the size of Texas, with other estimates of much larger areas. Photos show shorelines in Bali and other islands with plastic trash washing up daily.

Online sources claimed that there is much evidence that many types of wildlife, animals living in the water and on land, are affected when they ingest the waste. And who can say what other effects such a massive mess is causing?

The United Nations should be involved in the cleanup. Perhaps organize a fleet of barges or some such to clear up some of the mess. Maybe a new, state-of-the-art incinerator could be built in the Philippines or Vietnam to burn up that collected material and generate electricity for the poor people of that region.

Perhaps some company could develop better bio-degradable paper products for packaging, instead of using the plastics that don’t degrade. The oil companies might not like that, but something ought to be done about that mess in the Pacific.

Andy Bennett, Buckfield