The United States generates more plastic waste than any other country in the world — producing 42 million metric tons, or 286 pounds per person, in 2016 alone, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances.
The United States generates more plastic waste than any other country in the world — producing 42 million metric tons, or 286 pounds per person, in 2016 alone, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances. The research also found that the U.S. is the third-largest contributor of plastic pollution in coastal environments.
The findings contradict the widely-held belief that the world’s plastic pollution problem is driven by Asian nations, including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Previous research has largely looked at the direct sources of pollution, researchers argue, but not where the plastic originated from. This framing, they say, ignores the global waste export system, in which wealthy countries like the U.S. often ship their waste abroad to lower-income countries that have inadequate recycling methods.
“The United States generates the most plastic waste of any other country in the world, but rather than looking the problem in the eye, we have outsourced it to developing countries and become a top contributor to the ocean plastics crisis,” Nick Mallos, senior director of Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas program and a co-author of the study, said in a statement.
Read more at: YaleEnvironment 360
