7 Countries That Produce The Most Plastic Waste In The World
Unless you have been living under a rock you would know that a pilot whale has recently died after ingesting nearly 17 pounds of plastic waste on the banks of Thailand. The whale was found afloat in a canal in the southern province of Songkhla, and veterinarians and volunteers tried to save it for five days, but she died.
Her death comes as a tight slap on the faces of those who are ignorant and inconsiderate towards others with whom we share the planet. God forbid, had there been a similar such ruckus created by animals, we would have killed them right there and then, but why such insensitivity on our part?
A pilot whale that died in Thailand last week had more than 17 pounds of plastic waste in its stomach, including more than 80 plastic bags. https://t.co/W6eI9YmSfm pic.twitter.com/ZTYjFBjsRt
¡ª Yale Environment 360 (@YaleE360) June 4, 2018
Our planet's seas and oceans are choking on plastic waste that's very conveniently being thrown into it. We think as if the water is some sort of a black hole where everything is just going to disappear, but let me break it you - nothing is. Everything that we throw or have thrown in the water is coming back to us.
The seafood that we eat is now contaminated and adulterated with plastic, giving seafood lovers diseases they never imagined before. Even worse, most of these animals are dying before they are supposed to after gulping down kilos and kilos of plastic.
Another alarming fact that's deeply rooted to this problem is that the filth floating on the surface accounts for only 5 % of all the plastic trash dumped into the sea and now, one can only imagine what we have in store. ¡°At this rate, we would expect nearly one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish in our oceans by 2025 ¡ª an unthinkable number with drastic economic and environmental consequences,¡± says Nicholas Mallos, director of Ocean Conservancy¡¯s marine debris program.
1. China
For years, China was the hub of 'garbage' as it imported waste from several countries around the world, but that's changing after Beijing banned 24 types of scraps from entering its borders starting January. The ban is being hailed as a massive contribution in global green efforts by environmentalists, but just because it's not importing waste from other countries, doesn't mean that it's not producing its own.
Earlier, the management kept everything in check, however, due to negligence in administration and policies resulted in a huge dumping ground that the country could not manage. The last time we checked, out of the five million tons of the eight million tons of plastic entering the sea each year comes via China.
2. Indonesia
A diver recently swam and dived someone in Indonesia and what he discovered on the course is a story to tell. The disheartening state of how plastic took over the beaches and the entire coastline is what which was highlighted by the diver in his video. ¡°The ocean currents brought us in a lovely gift of a slick of jellyfish, plankton, leaves, branches, fronds, sticks, etc ... Oh, and some plastic,¡± he wrote in the video¡¯s caption.
When it comes to plastic waste management, Indonesia is one of the worsts in the world. It reefs averaged 25.6 plastic pieces per 100sq m.
3. UK
Now that many researchers and scientists are saying that the world is soon going to get swamped under plastic waste, know that the UK will have a huge role to play in it. Initially, the country exported all its waste to places like China and other nations that were too needy, but now that China has banned the import of 30 types of waste, which also includes plastic, UK is in a big trouble.
Its plastic is now going to shoot up dramatically by over a million tonnes by 2030, says WWF.
4. Philippines
The Philippines is one of the 5 countries that produce half of the world's plastic waste. Data from the 2015 study "Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean" shows that the Philippines wastes 6,237,653 kg (6875.84 tons) of plastic per day, of which 81% is mismanaged, claims UN.
Well, is it alarming enough?
5. Thailand
As we mentioned in the article, it isn't just the pilot whale that died after gulping down plastic, the list of animals is a long one. Thailand is failing miserably in its plastic waste management and stands among the top consumers of plastic in the world. The dead whale incidence has only highlighted how serious and critical the problem is.
6. Vietnam
Some of the beaches in Vietnam have more plastic than sand on it and I cannot even begin to reason this anymore. Plastic helmets, plastic furniture and the plastic leg and let's not forget the plastic bags and bottles are amongst the elements that have taken over the otherwise stupendousness of the beach.
7. Russia
A close neighbour of US, Russia produces a whopping 200 million tons of garbage every year and the numbers have only increased with the passing of each day. Some say that the growing middle class and capitalist society has to be blamed for this since most of these people end up buying what is easily available in the market, which basically means things made of plastic in plastic bags.
