The east is red! Take a look at that map: Not a single country joins China in its color-coded glory. Thanks to China's love of A) plastic garbage and B) dumping said garbage into the ocean, they completely dominated a recent study by Science documenting the world's worst dumpers.
In the map above, China is the only nation in the top category of plastic wasters. Truly, a league of its own. In the per-country breakdown, China wipes the floor with its competition in South East Asia, with a "Waste Generation Rate" greater than 2nd place Indonesia and 3rd place Philippines combined.
Out all the world's "Mismanaged plastic waste," nearly a third comes from the good ol' Middle Kingdom. Those bottles of Nongfu Springs and grocery bags from Lianhua are making the rounds on the world's currents, and presumably wreaking havoc on the sea life that has the poor luck to get in their way.
While China has been increasingly attentive to its internal pollution issues, ranging from smog to contaminated water supplies, it has been slower to develop strict anti-dumping codes for the oceans.
After all, once dumped into the currents, much of this plastic leaves Chinese waters (well, unless you're one of those types who considers pretty much all of the Pacific to be Chinese waters) and becomes China's gift to the whole world. You're welcome.
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