Debris removal systems

I keep seeing this article on CNN about the complaint of space debris building up. I also know this has been a continuing problem since the start of the space age.

So this raises the first question, asked entirely in jest, of how do we get rid of it? The answer to this is an old joke about how to get away with space based weaponry. You simply call your weapons platforms "Debris removal systems". Of course, to get away with that excuse, you need something more like lasers than railguns. Turning debris into smaller debris doesn't help much. Turning debris into rapidly expanding clouds of dissociated atmos works quite well.