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Comment by BurningFrog | Hacker News Reader

Who is "we"?

If it doesn't include Philippines, China and India, it won't do much for fixing plastic ocean trash.

Also, we can obviously keep using one-time use plastics, as long as we don't dump it in the ocean, and still fix the plastic ocean trash problem.

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No, I get it. Everyone needs to do their part. But western countries pioneered plastic waste, and they need to lead the way on solving the problem. It's the same conversation as CO2 pollution. Clean up at home first and then help others get started down a better path. Otherwise it's a Mexican standoff with finger-pointing.

Western countries didn't pioneer dumping plastic waste into the ocean. By the time plastics came about, western countries already had well established waste management that doesn't pollute the oceans.

Except that we did and still do. In the US, you can find plastic garbage in every waterway and along every highway, in large enough quantities that it's actually a real problem.

Rich countries pioneered dumping plastic onto developing countries. To then blame them for polluting.

The data suggests western countries _are_ leading the way on plastic waste disposal. It's high time we started helping others, don't you think?

Coca-cola produces over 100 billion plastic bottles per year. Multinational corporations seem happy to keep cranking out items they know damn well will end up in the ocean. Because money.

Maybe India should also stop accepting “recycling” waste from western countries. Then the west can lead the way even better.

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