If last week's post on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch didn't get you thinking twice before you toss that trash, here's some more food for thought (and, yeah, not food for mouth, because grode):

How long does it take the following items to biodegrade?*

*According to the best expert guesses

Cigarette butts: 5-10 years

Plastic bags: 20-1000 years

Aluminum cans: 200-500 years

Disposable Diapers and sanitary pads: 500-800 years

Monofilament fishing line: about 800 years

Glass bottles: 1-2 million years

Styrofoam, Plastic bottles, and tin foil: Basically never

All of this doesn't even tell you all the crud that each of these items leaches into the ground and water table, plus, did you know that garbage dumps actually produce greenhouse and toxic gases? At a faster rate than car usage and cow farts — which is saying something.

What's the solution? Take all our trash and shoot it into space? Maybe. But then we've got other problems to deal with in a couple thousand years. Just take it from Fry. Best to use less, recycle, and buy biodegradable.