I found this recent article from Our World In Data much more informative about plastic waste: https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics https://ourworldindata.

I found this recent article from Our World In Data much more informative about plastic waste: https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics There's a huge difference between "plastic waste in a landfill" and "plastic waste in the ocean." It's not like landfills just leak some % into the ocean every year. Some countries just throw far, far more of their plastic waste into the ocean. More specifically here's a chart on where ocean plastic comes from: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-emitted-to-the-ocean?tab=chart&country=BGD~CMR~PHL~CHN~IND~NGA~BRA~LKA~USA~Europe https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-emitted-to-... The Philippines alone is putting more than 100 times as much plastic into the ocean as the United states is. And this isn't per-capita, this is total. When it comes to plastic getting into the ocean, recycling plastic does nothing. Recycling plastic is like a religious ritual that reminds us that we need to care about the environment. It isn't actually doing anything. What needs to happen is that the countries that handle their trash badly - the Philippines, India, China, Brazil, Bangladesh - need to stop dumping so much plastic trash into the ocean.