Russia pollutes the oceans with plastic, like the Congo and North Korea

To trace the path of plastics: from cities and factories to the ocean, researchers studied all possible

routes and discovered three main drivingfactors in the spread of plastic pollution: wind and various forms of precipitation that move plastic from one area to another; the way the land is used and its geography - different types of terrain can facilitate the movement of plastics by natural forces; and the distance the plastic needs to “travel” to “get” to the sea.

It was found that the travel distanceplays an important role in the likelihood of plastic ending up in the ocean. Plastics used near the ocean, for example, or near rivers that flow a short distance from the ocean, have a higher chance of ending up in the ocean than those that are further from the sea.

It was previously found that mostThe plastic dumped into the ocean comes from several very large river systems. But by studying thousands of river systems, looking at their geology and proximity to populated areas, as well as their distance to the sea, researchers found that a lot of plastic ends up in the ocean from small rivers. They created a map showing the top 1,000 rivers, which account for up to 80% of all plastic dumped into the oceans.

Separately, the study talks about the influence of countrieson the pollution of the oceans with plastic. For example, Russia produces 363 thousand metric tons of plastic waste per year, about 542 tons are dumped into the ocean. For comparison: the United States dumps about 2,400 tons per year into the ocean, but produces an order of magnitude less waste - 267 thousand metric tons. And India - 126.5 tons in the ocean, and over 13 million metric tons of waste. Colombia (431 tons), Congo (676) and North Korea (387) dumps about the same amount as Russia.

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