U.S. world's biggest plastic polluter, report finds

Last time we went to Europe, we could go a whole day and only see one large personal vehicle on the road. Here in the States, needlessly large dinosaurs are everywhere.

It sounds as if they're counting plastics which are buried in landfills as being the same as plastic which reaches the oceans.

Perhaps, but that doesn't really overstate the problem. Far too many people just toss their trash out of the window of their car and his stuff ends up in waterways and eventually finds its way to the sea. Trash dumped in landfills often blows away before a layer of dirt can be dumped on top. At the mouth of the LA River in Long Beach is a big floating boom designed to trap plastics. There is always a massive back up of trash at this boom. A lot gets past, especially plastic pellets, also called nurdles. These are hauled in bottom dump rail cars and in big pneumatic bulk transport semi-trailers. The process of transferring nurdles from rail cars to storage, to trucks or from trucks to storage often allows nurdles to get loose and in time are washed into a storm drain, down a creek to a river and out to sea. The US creates a huge volume of this waste that doesn't stay put in a land fill or get recycled.

Last time we went to Europe, we could go a whole day and only see one large personal vehicle on the road. Here in the States, needlessly large dinosaurs are everywhere.

It's almost like there's a difference in climate, terrain, and levels of urbanization.

It sounds as if they're counting plastics which are buried in landfills as being the same as plastic which reaches the oceans.

Last time we went to Europe, we could go a whole day and only see one large personal vehicle on the road.

Where was this? The Faroe Islands? I have traveled Europe extensively and the traffic in my experience is as dense as the villages and towns every few kilometers. Epic traffic jams on major highways. There are no real open spaces in Europe. What I saw riding little back roads was a town or village every 5-10 km and cars everywhere. Alpine passes were jam packed.

You want to fix the problem?, then target the problem of people littering etc and not the manufacturer.

So you're saying that if we want to save the planet, we need to target those who litter. Ok...

These "save the planet types" are only in the business of making money .

But now you're saying that targeting the people littering would only be to make money.

Seems an interesting paradox you've created. You've setup a condition whereby It's literally impossible to come up with a non-financial reason to save the planet, for by definition, once you've taken any action, it can only be for financial motivation.

https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/japan’s-plastic-addiction-is-affecting-oceans-and-burdening-marine-life

The oil industry made up its own symbols and got governments to include them on plastic bottles that make the consumer think the product is recyclable and being recycled, when in fact, it is not. Even a vast amount of things that are recyclable are not recycled.

As long as its more expensive to recycle than make from new, the problem will never end. People and governments don't really care about the environment or recycling. Only a change by business for cost will change things.

As usual another pollution reduction organisation pointing the finger at the wrong country.

Check out most 3rd world countries on Google earth South Africa and others with their streets and water ways filled with plastic rubbish.

Small Pacific nations still today dumping their rubbish into the ocean to dispose of it.

You want to fix the problem?, then target the problem of people littering etc and not the manufacturer. These "save the planet types" are only in the business of making money .

Japan is probably not too far behind, unfortunately.