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Origins of plastic waste
in the oceans
From land to sea
Worldwide, 80% of the plastic waste in the sea comes from sources on land. These range from tire abrasion to granulate from the plastics industry. Particularly in countries with inadequate disposal of municipal and industrial waste and waste water, a lot of plastic is washed into the sea via sewers and rivers or is blown there from dumpsites. Leisure activities and tourism also contribute significantly to marine litter.
The most visible are low-density plastic wastes such as polyethylene films and bags floating on the water surface. Plastics of higher density such as PVC, polyester or polyamide sink immediately into the depths. (Alfred-Wegner Institute).
Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig and the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences have come to the conclusion in a study
zthat between 88-95% of plastic waste worldwide reaches the sea via 10 rivers, the majority of which are located in Asia. For this purpose, they evaluated data on the pollution of 1350 rivers worldwide and found that the contamination with plastic particles is extremely unevenly distributed. Most of the plastic waste reaches the oceans via the Yangtze, followed by the Indus and Yellow Rivers. Researchers from another studycome to similar conclusions, attributing 67% of the plastic waste entering the oceans to 20 rivers.
One third of the world's coastal plastic waste is neither landfilled nor recycled. An interactive map on SPIEGEL-Online shows which countries waste the oceans the most.
One third of the world's coastal plastic waste is neither landfilled nor recycled. An interactive map on SPIEGEL-Online shows which countries waste the oceans the most.