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Please, the Western world is doing a lot of work in keeping it out of water ways and oceans. The majority of trash is from China and other Asian countries. [1]

Please, the Western world is doing a lot of work in keeping it out of water ways and oceans. The majority of trash is from China and other Asian countries. [1] What can we do? Simple, this is where trade requirements include treating the environment right. We already have restrictions on seafood harvesting and protecting certain species like whales and dolphins. no reason we cannot hold trade to require proper handling of waste and pollution to include penalties and fees on offending nations [1] https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-13/5-countries-dump-more-plastic-oceans-rest-world-combined https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-13/5-countries-dump-more...

bpicolo 8y ago
To be fair, part of the way we "take care" of it is by shipping a bunch of it's trash to China [0]. [0] https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/why-china-isnt-taking-americas-garbage-anymore-literally https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/why-china-isnt-taking-amer...
- wyattpeak 8y ago
  I mean, true in the most technical sense, but given the Chinese paid an estimated half billion dollars for it in 2016 [1], the implication that it's being dumped there is disingenuous. [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-bans-foreign-waste-but-what-will-happen-to-the-worlds-recycling/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-bans-foreig...
aclsid 8y ago
I think you are misleading yourself by recycling policies and waste management that takes the trash out to a place where you cannot see it, precisely the point of the article. The amount of trash a person generates in a country like the US is astounding. One person in the US generates in average 4.4 pounds of trash every day, and that makes Americans the top polluters in this sense. Having lived in North America, South America and China, I can tell you the main difference is packaging. The trash can itself is huge in the US, while in South America people use something closer to a small paper bin. A lot of the trash is organic, but in general, waste management and wastewater treatment in Latin America is awful. China on the other hand has a big wastewater treatment problem, especially in provinces like Sichuan from what I saw. One village I visited had its main creek contaminated in our generation by a nearby factory. waste generation is also low over there. https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/trash-numbers-startling-statistics-about-americans-and-their-garbage.html https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/trash-number...

bpicolo 8y ago

To be fair, part of the way we "take care" of it is by shipping a bunch of it's trash to China [0]. [0] https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/why-china-isnt-taking-americas-garbage-anymore-literally https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/why-china-isnt-taking-amer...

wyattpeak 8y ago
I mean, true in the most technical sense, but given the Chinese paid an estimated half billion dollars for it in 2016 [1], the implication that it's being dumped there is disingenuous. [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-bans-foreign-waste-but-what-will-happen-to-the-worlds-recycling/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-bans-foreig...

aclsid 8y ago

I think you are misleading yourself by recycling policies and waste management that takes the trash out to a place where you cannot see it, precisely the point of the article. The amount of trash a person generates in a country like the US is astounding. One person in the US generates in average 4.4 pounds of trash every day, and that makes Americans the top polluters in this sense. Having lived in North America, South America and China, I can tell you the main difference is packaging. The trash can itself is huge in the US, while in South America people use something closer to a small paper bin. A lot of the trash is organic, but in general, waste management and wastewater treatment in Latin America is awful. China on the other hand has a big wastewater treatment problem, especially in provinces like Sichuan from what I saw. One village I visited had its main creek contaminated in our generation by a nearby factory. waste generation is also low over there. https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/trash-numbers-startling-statistics-about-americans-and-their-garbage.html https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/trash-number...