20 Million Tons of Debris and Trash Headed Towards Hawaii

"A huge island of trash and debris" headed towards U.S.

 shores through the Pacific

Up to 20 million tons of debris from the 2011 tsunami that devastated parts of Japan are expected to hit Hawaiian coast lines by 2013.

The mass of wreckage that could marr the picturesque coast lines of Hawaii have been travelling faster than expected, scientists say. The garbage is projected to wash ashore on the West Coast by 2014.

"We don't want to create a panic, but it's good to know it's coming," University of Hawaii researcher Jan Hafner told Time.

A Russian ship spotted TVs, fridges and fishing boats from Japan near the Midway Islands in September. The debris are "twice the size of Texas," Mike Beck of the The Nature Conservancy said in an NBC Nightly News segment.