Just 10 rivers may be to blame for millions of tonnes of ocean plastic

[FLPanhandle]

https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/just-10-rivers-to-blame-for-millions-of-tonnes-of-ocean-plastic

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The heavily polluted Yangtze river pumps massive amounts of plastic into the ocean every year.


Just 10 rivers – eight of them in Asia – may be responsible for dumping almost four million tonnes of plastic into the seas every year.

Calculating with the precision the source and amount of plastic trash in the oceans is difficult; estimates tend to cover wide ranges. Previous research has found about one-fifth of total ocean plastic trash comes from marine activities – plastic tossed from fishing boats, ships, drilling platforms and so on – with four-fifths from land.

A paper published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, by scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Science, both in Germany, calculates that rivers contribute between 410,000 and four million tonnes a year to oceanic plastic debris, with 88 to 95% coming from only 10.

Those are the Yangtze, Xi and Huanpu in China; the Ganges in India; the Cross, bordering Cameroon and Nigeria; the Brantas and Solo in Indonesia; the Amazon, mostly in Brazil; the Pasig in the Philippines; and the Irrawaddy in Myanmar.

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It's time to start holding these countries responsible. It's time to start a UN program to catch this shit before it enters the oceans. It's past time to take serious action on pollution.

[tblue37]

1. K&R for visibility. nt

[IronLionZion]

2. Identifying these rivers is the first step to tackling this problem

but each one has millions and millions of people living along the rivers paths, with lots of terrible drainage, sewage, garbage, and industrial chemical runoff going right into the rivers. So impoverished countries don't have EPA regulations on dumping. This problem needs to be tackled right at the local levels for waste management policies.

Some areas have made laws to restrict plastic waste. For example, cloth or biodegradable plastic grocery bags, or reusable containers instead of throwaway plastics. They need plastic recycling but that is still a very expensive developed country initiative that these places just can't afford yet.

But don't worry. Trump and the GOP are getting rid of the job killing EPA here in the US also to make America a polluted cesspool again.

[7962]

3. The UN will do nothing to hold these countries accountable.

it will just blame it on the Western countries for being more advanced.
But your idea of an action plan IS something that should be doable, because it doesn't place blame

[Amishman]

4. There is some unfortunate truth to this. The UN is dysfunctional at a time when direly needed

With the US vacating it's leadership role the world desperately needs the UN to mature and fulfil it's original purpose.

Back to the original topic, I knew the Ganges would be at the top of the list. The abuse and pollution of that river is horrifying.

[SunSeeker]

5. K & R for exposure.

[geardaddy]

6. Having lived in the PRC and the ROC

I can say that littering is not frowned upon.