
80% of river plastic pollution entering the oceans stem from 1000 rivers - EndXA
https://theoceancleanup.com/sources/
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enjoy-your-stay
Stop producing plastic bags and go back to selling soft drinks in refundable
glass bottles would probably make a big dent.

The extra energy needed for glass production and transportation of heavier
glass bottles would have to be factored in somewhere though.

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dantle
There have been stories in the news which have raised awareness about how
Canada exports their recycling/trash to the Philippines.[0] The Philippines
seems to pollute heavily, based on this map. Given this data, it seems
counterproductive to send waste to the highest polluting countries, since they
are obviously not able to process their existing burden.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93Philippines_was...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93Philippines_waste_dispute)

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RenRav
I was guessing China would have the worst rivers, but that map also puts the
spotlight on India. It's easy to see that general region isn't doing good.
This seems like a good way stop plastics before they reach the ocean.

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cc81
India does not surprise me after having been there. A lot of very poor people
and infrastructure that has not grown with the population.

Like a 10 minute drive (I was not a driver) from the offices of pretty famous
western companies one could see improvised disposal sites for trash; sometimes
burning and people going through them and seeing what they can find.

There seemed to be way too little organized trash pickup so people just threw
their trash somewhere and after a while either the government acted or people
decide to burn it to get rid of it.

I assume if there is a river nearby many will take that option instead of
burning it.

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josecyc
Great job, ocean cleanup very interesting data right here. Tracking the
problem in that way is more of a first principles approach. Happy that Mexico
is so low on the amount.

