In short, yes. The creation, processing, transportation and recycling of plastics is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions[0] and other forms of indu

In short, yes. The creation, processing, transportation and recycling of plastics is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions[0] and other forms of industrial pollution like water table pollution from landfills. A conservative estimate[1] puts 10% of all plastics created (from first world countries too) being deposited in the worlds oceans, to disastrous effects[2]. The US economy is one of, if not the largest, contributing factor to the above pacific plastic waste problem. Even if we're better at recycling plastics than some countries (still pretty terrible at only ~10%) and not letting them leak out into the environment, the sheer volume we consume and dispose of still makes the US and other Western countries by FAR the biggest contributors to plastics pollution. 0: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/efficiency/industry/technical-info/benchmarking/plastics/5211 https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/efficiency/industry/technical... 1: http://plastic-pollution.org/ http://plastic-pollution.org/ 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch