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Or, instead of banning anything, we could try convincing a very small number of countries to use landfills instead of just chucking it in a river. 90% of plast

Or, instead of banning anything, we could try convincing a very small number of countries to use landfills instead of just chucking it in a river. 90% of plastic polluting our oceans comes from just 10 rivers: 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...

josefx 6y ago
The number of rivers does not really reflect the amount of contributing countries. For example the Nile passes through almost a dozen, the Niger through five and the Indus through three.
- iso1210 6y ago
  Yangtze --- China [1] Indus --- China, India [2], Pakistan [3] Yellow --- China Hai He --- China Ganges --- India, Bangladesh [4] Pearl --- China, Tiny bit in Vietnam [5] Amur --- China, Russia [6] Mekong --- China, Myanmar [7], Laos [8], Thailand [9], Cambodia [10], Vietnam [11] Nile --- Egypt [12], Sudan [13], South Sudan [14], Ethiopia [15], Uganda [16], Congo [17], Kenya [18], Tanzania [19], Rwanda [20], Burundi [21] Niger --- Benin [22], Guinea [23], Mali [24], Niger [25], Nigeria [26] So 26 countries, with China clearly the worst. However the majority of the plastic coming out of these countries is because of goods destined for western countries. Import tax based on Oceanic plastic emissions, with money used to clean up oceans, is the solution. This funds ocean cleanup, encourages better disposal, and puts the cost on the person driving it (the consumer) Like CO2, plastic in the ocean is an externality that the world pays for, but doesn't benefit from.
  - dd_roger 6y ago
    > However the majority of the plastic coming out of these countries is because of goods destined for western countries. Citation needed.
    - animal_spirits 6y ago
      This is an anecdote but almost every small plastic thing I can buy in a Walmart here in the States was manufactured in China
      - imtringued 6y ago
        If you throw away the plastic in North America how does it get into Chinese rivers?

josefx 6y ago

The number of rivers does not really reflect the amount of contributing countries. For example the Nile passes through almost a dozen, the Niger through five and the Indus through three.

iso1210 6y ago
Yangtze --- China [1] Indus --- China, India [2], Pakistan [3] Yellow --- China Hai He --- China Ganges --- India, Bangladesh [4] Pearl --- China, Tiny bit in Vietnam [5] Amur --- China, Russia [6] Mekong --- China, Myanmar [7], Laos [8], Thailand [9], Cambodia [10], Vietnam [11] Nile --- Egypt [12], Sudan [13], South Sudan [14], Ethiopia [15], Uganda [16], Congo [17], Kenya [18], Tanzania [19], Rwanda [20], Burundi [21] Niger --- Benin [22], Guinea [23], Mali [24], Niger [25], Nigeria [26] So 26 countries, with China clearly the worst. However the majority of the plastic coming out of these countries is because of goods destined for western countries. Import tax based on Oceanic plastic emissions, with money used to clean up oceans, is the solution. This funds ocean cleanup, encourages better disposal, and puts the cost on the person driving it (the consumer) Like CO2, plastic in the ocean is an externality that the world pays for, but doesn't benefit from.
- dd_roger 6y ago
  > However the majority of the plastic coming out of these countries is because of goods destined for western countries. Citation needed.
  - animal_spirits 6y ago
    This is an anecdote but almost every small plastic thing I can buy in a Walmart here in the States was manufactured in China
    - imtringued 6y ago
      If you throw away the plastic in North America how does it get into Chinese rivers?