3 ms·

I was in Taiwan a couple years ago doing a beach cleanup, plastics (bags, etc) most definitely make it into the water there.

• wnissen 9y ago
  Right, but most of them are getting landfilled at the worst, right? As I understand it, the majority of the garbage is coming from countries that have no commercial-scale waste disposal except ocean dumping.
  • craftyguy 9y ago
    Most != all, and it doesn't take much plastic to really mess up an ecosystem. Specifically in north Taiwan's case, I recall learning that a portion of the trash in the ocean comes from China via ocean currents, but there's still a significant amount coming from Taiwan via accidents (trash spilling, vessels losing it, etc)
  • always_good 9y ago
    Well, if we're guessing, surely developed nations produce an order of magnitude more waste in general. Just like the average American consumers more energy than everyone else.
    • fvdessen 9y ago
      We don't have to guess, according to this source, 98% of marine litter comes from outside Europe & US [1]. [1] https://www.marinelitterthefacts.com/sources https://www.marinelitterthefacts.com/sources
      • craftyguy 9y ago
        Taiwan is outside Europe and the US. So that statistic doesn't really help prove the point that most of the trash in the ocean around Taiwan is from other countries that dump straight into the ocean.