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"Most of the world’s largest emitting rivers are in Asia, with some also in East Africa and the Caribbean. In the chart we see the ten largest contributors. Thi
by lallysingh 5y ago
"Most of the world’s largest emitting rivers are in Asia, with some also in East Africa and the Caribbean. In the chart we see the ten largest contributors. This is shown as each river’s share of the global total. You can explore the data on the top 50 rivers using the +Add river button on the chart.6
Seven of the top ten rivers are in the Philippines. Two are in India, and one in Malaysia. The Pasig River in the Philippines alone accounts for 6.4% of global river plastics. This paints a very different picture to earlier studies where it was Asia’s largest rivers – the Yangtze, Xi, and Huangpu rivers in China, and Ganges in India – that were dominant."
- nomaxx117 5y agoThe massive concentration in the Philippines is one of the most interesting takeaways here. I ended up poking around for more details on this, and it looks like the causes relate to, among other things, a lack of proper waste disposal and an industry reliance on plastic sachets for food packaging. Sources: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/2168819/philippines-plastic-pollution-why-so-much-waste-ends-oceans https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/2168819/philip... https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/plastic-trash-from-the-sachet-economy-chokes-the-philippines-seas/ https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/plastic-trash-from-the-sac... https://urban-links.org/insight/turning-the-tide-on-ocean-plastic-pollution-in-the-philippines/ https://urban-links.org/insight/turning-the-tide-on-ocean-pl...
- Mengkudulangsat 5y agoI met a company once that sells parking lot-sized incinerators [1]. The only market they managed to get traction was the Philippines. I guess proper waste disposal is difficult when you are spread around many islands like that. [1] https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-trash-ash https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-trash-ash
- nomaxx117 5y agoInteresting point regarding the incinerators! From what I've read, a lot of it has to do with systemic mismanagement of the situation from the various governments over the past few decades.
- manachar 5y agoWonder if this is connected to China ceasing to accept trash/recycling from the US. I really hate that recycling became essentially a for-profit shell game of shipping it somewhere else to be a problem rather than dealing with building the domestic infrastructure needed to correctly handle it (including not overselling recycling so we could get waste-to-energy plants as part of the mix).
- nomaxx117 5y agoIt could have some small connection, but I would probably guess (based of of general trends) that it has to do with some regions or cities not yet having adequate waste disposal systems.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoAre outsiders allowed to confirm the official numbers form China?
- contingencies 5y agoI live at the end of the Pearl River Delta and regularly cross it by boat and travel along the shoreline. There is not a great deal of surface-visible physical plastic trash floating out of the river. Especially additionally considering the huge number of people living here (~100M+ within 100km radius), it is very well collected and managed versus rivers in the developing world. None of that mud-mixed-with-plastic-refuse buildup you often see in, say, India, Thailand, or undredged canal systems.
- MengerSponge 5y agoIt's basically why China stopped accepting "recycling" (aka trash): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_National_Sword https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_National_Sword
- t0rt01se 5y agoAs long as we're discussing the source of this pollution by nation there will never be a solution.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]