Is Only 1% of the Ocean Trash From the United States?

How many times have you read the above, the excuse that the USA doesn’t have to do anything about Ocean Trash because we are not polluters. Political Fact did a Fact Check on this allegation and it. makes a lot of sense.

The data is 10 years old, way before countries started to implement waste solutions and ocean trash became a huge issue. I think we can all agree we use plastic more now than we did 20 years ago. There was little or no Amazon or online purchasing (packaging waste). Bottled Water and all other drink forms started taking over whole aisles in grocery stores, cheap toys became more popular or faddish. When you think about all the things you have today vs. 10 years ago, how many of them are disposable plastic ?

The article mention in the statement refers to mismanaged waste entering the ocean in 2010. Since plastic does not biodegrade, how much of that waste is previous to 2010?

Not only that, the U.S. used to export about a third of its recyclables every year, and once they are shipped abroad, you have no idea where they end up. Until 2018, about half of U.S. plastic scrap exports went to China or Asia and due to mismanagement, it could have ended up back in the ocean

This study only cited waste that entered the ocean, not the plastic origin or who used it. In other words, something that was made in China and got tossed from the United States would count only as waste from China. For instance these toys, which were left on the beach in San Diego, would be classified as China Ocean Products as they were made in China.

According to the report  the United States ranked 20th.

Of even further note, the United States is the only western country to get on this list. “Sixty percent of the world’s marine litter comes from six Asian countries,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said from the White House. “We have the technology and the expertise to help these nations.”   This is a misleading statement, as we have not shown to be leader in getting rid of ocean trash.

• Americans generate 10.5 million tons of PLASTIC waste a year but recycle only 1 or 2 % of it. An estimated 14 billion pounds of trash-most of it plastic -is dumped in the world’s oceans every year (SeaStewards)

Image Credit: Reuters

Chile, Oman, Sri Lanka and South Africa are just a few of the countries who have announced waste measures including plastic bag bans, new marine reserves and drives to increase recycling.

Bottom line, everyone and every country need to do their part. We need to stop blaming everyone else and start taking some personal responsibility for our actions.

Resources 

Young America’s Foundation, Facebook post, Jan. 2, 2020

Science magazine, “Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean,” Feb. 13, 2015

Our World in Data, “Plastic Pollution,” September 2018

Email interview with Richard Thompson, director of the Marine Institute at the University of Plymouth, Jan. 10, 2020

Email interview with George Leonard, chief scientist at the Ocean Conservancy, Jan. 13, 2020

Email interview with Roland Geyer, industrial ecology professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California-Santa Barbara, Jan. 13, 2020

Email interview with Kara Lavender Law, research professor of oceanography with the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Mass., Jan. 14, 2020