Would you believe that 90% of plastics in the ocean comes from just 10 rivers? 9 are located in Asia and one of them borders Thailand. So what are the most plastic polluted rivers in the world?
Every year, we, the world, produces 300 million tonnes of plastics, and 8.8 million tonnes of these are dumped into the oceans. That’s about 40 billion plastic bottles, 100 billion single-use plastic bags, and 522 million personal care items.
Disturbingly, 270,000 tonnes of these plastics are merely floating around on the ocean surface. That is more than 5 trillion individual pieces when broken down, excluding the millions of microplastic particles. You might be thinking that 270,000 tonnes is a lot, and you’re definitely right!
It’s equivalent to 33,750,000 bowling balls, 135,000 cars, 130,000 medium-sized boats, 1,225 cargo trains, or 36,000 adult elephants.
Obviously, this current amount of plastic garbage is wreaking havoc on our once pristine marine biodiversity. Approximately 700 marine species are in danger of extinction because of plastic pollution.