The United States’ contribution of plastic waste to land and ocean

Abstract

Plastic waste affects environmental quality and ecosystem health. In 2010, an estimated 5 to 13 million metric tons (Mt) of plastic waste entered the ocean from both developing countries with insufficient solid waste infrastructure and high-income countries with very high waste generation. We demonstrate that, in 2016, the United States generated the largest amount of plastic waste of any country in the world (42.0 Mt). Between 0.14 and 0.41 Mt of this waste was illegally dumped in the United States, and 0.15 to 0.99 Mt was inadequately managed in countries that imported materials collected in the United States for recycling. Accounting for these contributions, the amount of plastic waste generated in the United States estimated to enter the coastal environment in 2016 was up to five times larger than that estimated for 2010, rendering the United States’ contribution among the highest in the world.

Plastic ingestion by marine fish is widespread and increasing

“…Research on marine fish has been geographically skewed toward neritic regions (96 studies total, Figure 3; Figure S2); however, many nearshore regions are unstudied or understudied. For example, only four studies were conducted within the continental United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone, despite more marine plastic originating from the United States than any other developed nation (Jambeck et al, 2015; Law et al, 2020; Figure 2). More research is required to uncover plastic ingestion trends by marine fish in this large region.…”

The fate of plastic in the ocean environment – a minireview

“…2 Based on data of waste generation reported by the World Bank for 217 countries in 2016, 43 the percentage of plastic in municipal solid waste was 10% in 2010 6 and increased to 12% in 2016. 44 Additionally, the total amount of plastic waste was found to roughly proportion global production gures. 2,6 Plastic litter is highest at locations of production and urban centres of high population density.…”

A Review of the Production, Recycling and Management of Marine Plastic Pollution

“…Results from studies estimating MPP-covering both ocean and land-based sources-indicate these are very large [4,24,25]. The total plastic pollution of 15 million metric tons per year is estimated [12].…”

“…Building on the [4,8] Invertebrates 92Fish 89Albatross and other procellariiformes (24) Toothed whales (16) Grebes 6Gulls, skuas, terns and auks (39) Pelicans, gannets and boobies, tropicbirds (20) Penguins 6Marine ducks (5) Dugongs and sea cows 2True seals (9) Divers 3Eared seals (13) Turtles 7Polar bear (1) Share of incidents of entanglement Animal (number of species) The degradation of macroplastics into microplastics-those that directly leaked into the oceans as plastic particles less than 5 mm in diameter-are widely known as marine environment pollutants [8]. A mid-point estimation of 1.5 million tons of microplastics from the average of lower and upper ranges (0.8-2.5 million tons) of abrasion of car tyres, laundering of synthetic textiles, abrasion of road markings, fallout of city dust, release of marine coatings, spills of plastic pellets and microbeads from cosmetics entering oceans per year [37].…”