Roughly eight million tons of plastic enters the seas every year. That’s according to a 2015 report, which also identified where the bulk of this trash originates. At the top of the list :US, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Plastic waste of all shapes and sizes permeates the world’s oceans. It shows up on beaches, in fish and even in Arctic sea ice. And a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine makes clear that the U.S. is a big part of the problem.