Almost every country likes to show how big it is. . . However, there are certain areas where all these countries would not want to stand out as the biggest and best. Take plastic pollution, for example. . . Worldwide, 242 million metric tons of plastic waste is generated each year. And being “the strongest” in this regard is hardly a positive thing.
This is also true for the USA. The country that produces the most plastic waste in the world is the USA, which is responsible for one-sixth of the total. . . Reports reveal that the US was responsible for an estimated 42 million metric tons of plastic waste in 2016. That’s more than double all the other countries on the planet and more than the 28 countries in the European Union combined.
“In 2016, the United States was the largest producer of plastic waste,” says a new report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.
“Plastic waste is an environmental and social crisis that the United States must address from the source to the sea,” says Margaret Spring, Monterey Bay Aquarium chief conservation and science officer, who chairs the committee of experts that compiled the report. “We are putting social and economic burdens on vulnerable populations, endangering marine habitats and wildlife, and polluting waters on which people depend for food and livelihoods,” Spring said.
Per capita, Americans produce about 130 kilograms of plastic waste annually. According to the report, the vast majority of this waste ends up in landfills, but too much of it leaks into the environment.
According to a 2016 report by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, by 2050 there is expected to be more plastic in the ocean than fish. This is seen as a major problem, which will result in the extinction of fish species.
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