Where does the plastic in oceans come from?

&quot;Most of the world’s largest emitting rivers are in Asia, with some also in East Africa and the Caribbean. In the chart we see the ten largest contributors. This is shown as each river’s share of the global total. You can explore the data on the top 50 rivers using the +Add river button on the chart.6<p>Seven of the top ten rivers are in the Philippines. Two are in India, and one in Malaysia. The Pasig River in the Philippines alone accounts for 6.4% of global river plastics. This paints a very different picture to earlier studies where it was Asia’s largest rivers – the Yangtze, Xi, and Huangpu rivers in China, and Ganges in India – that were dominant.&quot;

This quantifies the nonsense of the San Francisco plastic straw ban, which was motivated by stopping plastic ocean emissions.<p>And I still can&#x27;t get a non melting straw.

Wow, growing up in India I always knew that the Mithi Nadi (ulhas) was incredibly polluted and trash filled. But, to see it at rank 3 is really eye opening.<p>There have been efforts over the last few decades to clean it up. But, Mumbai slums are situated on the river, and dump everything and anything into it. It would be nice to know if the Ulhas is mostly polluted with plastic upstream or at the mouth near Mumbai.

As the article discusses, the main contributing factor is a lack of effective waste disposal systems, almost entirely in low and middle income countries. The US, for example contributes .25% of global ocean plastic emissions (not the 4.5% from all of NA, most of which is from Central America and the Caribbean). High income countries can help low income countries develop these systems through grants and subsidies.

It&#x27;s just so easy: first world countries just have that &quot;awesome&quot; recycling systems. Their plastic just ends on ships full of plastic waste. China refuses to accept it, so we sell it it to other countries in Asia, which seemingly can&#x27;t handle it anymore and just dumps it into the ocean. End.

The Ocean Cleanup Project is doing good work and could probably use some scaling up<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theoceancleanup.com&#x2F;updates&#x2F;in-search-of-the-rivers-that-carry-plastic-into-the-ocean&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theoceancleanup.com&#x2F;updates&#x2F;in-search-of-the-rivers-...</a>

&gt; To tackle plastic pollution we need to know where it’s coming from<p>So, where is it coming from?<p>TFA examined the last step - from river to ocean. But what is the source of all this plastic? Is it soda bottles, single use plastic bags, shrink wrap, structural plastic?<p>&gt; It is estimated that 81% of ocean plastics come from Asian rivers. The Philippines alone contribute around one-third of the global total.<p>That&#x27;s a start. We are becoming more informed.<p>What percentage of the ocean plastics are manufactured in Asia?<p>What percentage of the ocean plastics are manufactured in USA?<p>What percentage of the ocean plastics are manufactured in Europe?<p>What percentage of the ocean plastics are manufactured by the top 5 global food corporations?<p>The value of these questions is not to shift blame. It is to understand the system so we can target fixes.<p>The most informative question wasn&#x27;t even raised in TFA.<p>Who profits from plastic waste?

The number one cause of micro-plastic pollution near waterways is from car tires. Just another reason cars are such a detriment to our society.

Is this not misleading? I thought that most countries offload their plastic waste to regions in Asia (paying them to take it), so of course Asia comes off looking as the largest emitter.

They estimate that a 1000 rivers contribute 80% of the _riverine_ plastic pollution.<p>But how much of the total in the oceans is riverine versus &#x27;oceanic&#x27;? What is the total contribution of maritime activity (freight, fishing, cruises, recreational, military) to a non-riverine&#x2F;oceanic plastic?

I guess those plastic straw bans in the US and Europe won&#x27;t be solving plastic pollution in oceans.

If we want to create a chart by country that is actually fair we need to normalize for GDP per capita and population. This is a very crude way to single out countries based on incomplete data.<p>I&#x27;d like to see the list of worst offender countries that can do something about preventing plastic pollution, but aren&#x27;t doing as much.<p>How is it helpful to know that India is one of the highest polluting countries when half a billion people live in abject poverty?

I recently visited some manufacturers of high velocity polymer production lines. Their major markets were all Southeast Asia. That equipment should be outlawed. Regulation has to take the lead.

Great video on the topic (&amp; silliness of the plastic straw ban) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;ysGRZ1nRZQ4" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;ysGRZ1nRZQ4</a>

And to think that the EU made it mandatory for plastic bags to cost money, gravely inconveniencing every shopper... And my country only amounts to 0.02% of plastic waste in the ocean.

If you ever need more evidence the Environmental Industrial Complex is evil. You can already see the pre-planed patterns being used to make sure blame is placed back on you in the comments. Along with the pre existing day in day out controls of banning plastic things in your lives, the consistent control of you is important.<p>I really liked Reddit&#x27;s trash bag meme in the end. It actually seemed to get a wider reach than I would have expected. Developing countries do also have status, it might be Versace but it also can be clean waterways, you just need to tie it back to locals who in turn can push governance.

I had read somewhere that a lot of waste(supposedly recyclable) from the US ends up in these poorer asian countries. These countries that actually don&#x27;t have a lot invested in high efficient recycling systems.<p>But this article just shows the data where the water gets polluted from mismanaged waste. But not where this plastic comes from? I suppose it&#x27;s not the full story then?

The article’s title is “Where does the plastic in our oceans come from?”, and HN lists it as “Ocean Plastic Emissions by Country”. Indeed, one section is titled “Which countries emit the most plastic to the ocean?”.<p>Don’t let any of that fool you. We never actually get a breakdown of contribution by country in the extensive article. I’m not sure why.