World celebrates Earth Day while planet still bears too much waste

Two Afghan children stand amid piles of garbage next to their home, in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo)

Birds fly around as an earthmover sorts garbage at the Ghazipur garbage dump in New Delhi, India, March 28, 2022. (AP Photo)

A city worker picks trash from a street flooded by the waters of the Negro River in downtown Manaus, Brazil, May 20, 2021. (AP Photo)

Volunteers clean a beach from trash that was washed up by a storm in Marseille, southern France, Oct. 6, 2021. (AP Photo)

A swan stands between dumped plastic bottles and waste at the Danube river in Belgrade, Serbia, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo)

Wild elephants scavenge for food at an open landfill in Pallakkadu village in Ampara district, about 210 kilometers (130 miles) east of the capital Colombo, Sri Lanka, Jan. 6, 2022. Conservationists and veterinarians warn that plastic waste in the open landfill in eastern Sri Lanka is killing elephants in the region after two more were found dead over the weekend. Around 20 elephants have died over the last eight years after consuming plastic trash in the dump. Examinations of the dead animals showed they had swallowed large amounts of nondegradable plastic that are found in the garbage dump, wildlife veterinarian Nihal Pushpakumara said.

A Hawksbill sea turtle, that was found on a nearby beach, is displayed after an autopsy was performed along with trash mostly plastic materials, top, and food items, left, removed from the turtle's stomach, at the Al Hefaiyah Conservation Center lab, in the city of Kalba, on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, Feb. 1, 2022. A staggering 75% of all dead green turtles and 57% of all loggerhead turtles in Sharjah had eaten marine debris, including plastic bags, bottle caps, rope, and fishing nets, a new study published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin. The study seeks to document the damage and danger of the throwaway plastic that has surged in use around the world and the UAE, along with other marine debris. (AP Photo)

Volunteers help to clean up the trash that litters the beach to mark the World Cleanup Day in Bargny, Senegal, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP Photo)

A Kashmiri boatman employed by the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority removes garbage from the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Sept. 14, 2021. Dal Lake appears pristine in the area where hundreds of exquisitely decorated houseboats bob on its surface for rent by tourists and honeymooners. But farther from shore, the lake is a mixture of mossy swamps, thick weeds, trash-strewn patches and floating gardens made from rafts of reeds. (AP Photo)

Two young girls stand outside their house on a garbage strewn street, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 8, 2022. (AP Photo)

A donkey lies dead amid trash floating in the Katari River which flows into Titicaca Lake, in Chojasivi, Bolivia, Nov. 5, 2021. According to Juan Carlos Lopez, who is responsible for the Environment and Water in the nearby municipality of Pucarani, said the water pollutes crops and kills livestock. (AP Photo)

A volunteer collects garbage from the banks of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon marking World Environment Day, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, , June 5, 2021. (AP Photo)

Syachfa Nasution, 12, top, and Adrian Cannavaro, 13, collect plastic trash during a river clean up at polluted Babura River in medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Nov. 20, 2021. (AP Photo)

A man who scavenges recyclable materials for a living (C) walks past Marabou storks feeding on a mountain of garage amidst smoke from burning trash at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in the capital Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 7, 2021. (AP Photo)

A woman selling greens waits for customers in the Croix des Bosalles market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 22, 2021. The floor of the market is thick with decomposing trash and, in some places, small fires of burning trash.(AP Photo)

Samuael Hernandez, 15, helps his father, Antonio Hernandez, gut their flooded home in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in LaPlace, La., Sept. 9, 2021. (AP Photo)