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pulse7

Most probably created in China, used on the West then dumped in the sea...

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The West seems to do a decent job of managing plastic waste instead of just dumping into the oceans.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/the-jour...

It says in the article it's from the Ozama river which is a local river that runs into the sea nearby.

I read that in the article, then i checked it on google maps https://goo.gl/maps/pVJeXBUE4Ck . It's still hard to believe so much trash can wind up on a beach through that river. Wait, what does the river look like? Should they just install a shallow net?

It's crazy

They should stop dumping trash in the river

I mean... yeah!

Easier said than done. First you have to develop the infrastructure (garbage trucks, dumps, entire departments in local government, etc...). Then you have to convince the villagers to change their way of life through littering fines that everybody will hate.

I don't think anybody is happy with the situation, but practical alternatives are in short supply. Worse, you have to apply the situation throughout the whole country or the people who follow the law but still get smothered in garbage from upstream will be angry and disincentiveized to continue trying to clean up.

In the 'west' or more specifically in the United States dump trash in rivers or in the ocean is hight legal and hight risky. You would very likely be caught if you did it with any frequency.

It gets old blaming America for problems America doesnt cause, and diminishes all of your future blame America comments.

Also, read the article...

Most of that garbage is usually from locales which lack a recyling infrastructure as well as a recycling culture. If you read the article they mention locals use beaches and streams as personal dumping grounds. So if by west you mean from the local west indies, you’re right.

Plastic recycling isn't. It's just a scheme to move the waste somewhere else (China) and make Westerners feel good about not having to change their wasteful lifestyles.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17368168

That explains some but not the nile or ganges, mekong, etc. China is “good” about dumping compared to others outside NE Asia.

I don't disagree that the recycling infrastructure isn't there, just that it doesn't do anything, except ship plastic from landfills in the west, to landfills in the east.

Since the infrastructure isn't there for these developing countries, it goes not into landfills anywhere, but into the oceans.

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