90% of the plastics in our oceans spews from by just 10 rivers, all in Asia and Africa
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Off to the pacific
Banning plastic bags in Greenwich or straws at Starbucks is fine for virtue-signaling, but absolutely useless in addresing the problem. Just like the religion of residential recycling, *
A shocking study has revealed 90 per cent of the world's plastic waste comes from just 10 rivers in Asia and Africa.
As governments around the world rush to address the global problem of plastic pollution in the oceans, researchers have now pinpointed the river systems that carry the majority of it out to sea.
About five trillion pounds is floating in the sea, and targeting the major sources - such as the Yangtze and the Ganges - could almost halve it, scientists claim.
Carried out by Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, it suggests that the most effective way of reducing the amount of plastic in the world's oceans is by addressing the sources of pollution along such waterways as these.
[snip]
China's Yangtze River was the worst polluter, and ferries some 1.5 million tonnes of plastic into the Yellow Sea every year, the study found.
e 1.5 million tonnes of plastic into the Yellow Sea every year, the study found.
* Single stream recycling,mingling plastic, glass, cardboard, etc., is so contaminated by non-recyclable materials that it's mostly consigned to the same landfills that receive the rest of our garbage.