Space Debris Gets Some Respect

For the last few decades the international space community has freely used near-Earth space for many important applications without regard for the impact of artificial satellites on the space environment. Although space-faring nations have spewed trash from 200 km to beyond 36,000 km, the space below about 1,600 km has been severely abused.

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Space_Debris_Gets_Some_Respect_999.html