Where Does The Plastic In Our Oceans Come From?

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

80% of the world's ocean plastics enter the ocean through rivers and coasts. The other 20% comes from marine sources such as fishing nets, ropes, and fleets. To deal with plastic pollution, we need to know where these plastics come from. Previous studies suggested that a very small number of rivers were responsible for the vast majority of ocean plastics: 60% to 90% of the plastics came from just ten rivers.

Higher-resolution mapping and consideration of factors such as climate, terrain, land use, and distance to the ocean suggest that many smaller rivers play a bigger role than we thought. 1,600 of the largest emitting rivers are needed to account for 80% of plastic inputs to the ocean.

It is estimated that 81% of ocean plastics come from Asian rivers. The Philippines alone contributes about a third of the world total. Since the number of contributing rivers is much larger than previously thought, we will need global efforts to improve waste management and plastic collection rather than targeting just a few of the larger rivers.