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Important to note that western countries (almost) don't contribute plastic that ends up in the ocean (that later becomes microplastics) because of modern waste
by air7 7y ago
Important to note that western countries (almost) don't contribute plastic that ends up in the ocean (that later becomes microplastics) because of modern waste management. [0]
Plastic in the oceans comes from poorer countries where a huge population lives next to rivers or beaches and the waste management systems are inadequate. In fact, "90% of plastic polluting our oceans comes from just 10 rivers" [1]
Our efforts should be directed there, financially and politically and not locally be it via individual effort or local government pressure.
This is a unique type of issue as, generally speaking, enviorment awareness is stronger with liberals yet "meddling" in other countries internal affairs (waste management in this case) is not.
[0] https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluting-our-oceans-comes-from-just-10-rivers https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluti...
- baxtr 7y agoI believed this, too. But it’s apparently not true... See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17067350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17067350
- graeme 7y agoThat doesn't follow. That post argues it's actually us because we export plastics to China for recycling. But China shut that down and we haven't had a surge of western plastics in the oceans. They just go to landfills instead. Much plastic also goes in garbage, not recycling. This doesn't end in the oceans. I wish we'd move our supply chain off plastics for most things. But, the post you linked to isn't very persuasive on ocean plastic.
- anigbrowl 7y agoI don't think we've had long enough to since China changed its waste acceptance standards to be sure of the long-term ramifications.
- imhoguy 7y ago"modern waste management", like sending containers full of unrecyclable garbage to East Europe or Asia?
- air7 7y agoThat's FUD. The percentage of our waste we send is quite small. Also the percentage of these countries' waste that is imported is small (far from being the main source of trash). And also arguably, if they buy trash to recycle and then don't it's their responsibility to see it through and ours to make sure they do.
- daddylonglegs 7y agoI believe the paper that lead to all of those articles blaming the plastics in the ocean on Asian rivers was one that was specifically looking looking at plastics carried by major river systems [1]. This was to complement a previous study on plastics from coastal strips [2]. The large Asian river systems have catchment areas that hold billions of people between them and would carry a substantial proportion of the worlds riverine pollution even if all other things were equal. The microplastics in the environment in the first world come from first world activities, including littering and driving (and hence producing car tyre fragments). Low and middle income countries need better public services - including waste and waste water management - and enforcement of environmental laws. High income countries need less waste and enforcement of environmental laws. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15611.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15611.pdf [2] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768.full https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768.full https://jambeck.engr.uga.edu/landplasticinput https://jambeck.engr.uga.edu/landplasticinput "There is one high income country on the list, the United States, and while our waste management systems are well-designed and very effective, and the only mismanaged waste is from litter, we have a large coastal population and a large waste generation rate."