US world's top contributor in 'deluge' of plastic waste littering oceans: Report

The United States is "by far the largest contributor" to global plastic waste littering oceans, a new congressional report submitted to the federal government on November 30 said. According to the report titled 'Reckoning with the US role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste,' the US leads the world rank in plastic waste generation by producing more than all European Union nations combined. The pollution measurements published in the report, as cited by Earth.org, states that since 2016, the country has produced about 42 million metric tons (MMT) of plastic waste, which is twice the cumulative amount generated by China and EU countries.

Approximately, every American currently generates 130 kilograms of plastic waste annually and at the current rate, the projected pollution could soap up to 52 million tons by 2030 without appropriate actions. Researchers have also noted that the lack of adequate recycling infrastructure has also contributed to the unprecedented rise in plastic pollution, and estimates that around 1.13-2.24 million metric tons of waste are leaked into the environment each year, including everything from bottles to straws that take over a century to decompose.

“The success of the 20th-century miracle invention of plastics has also produced a global scale deluge of plastic waste seemingly everywhere we look,” wrote Margaret Spring, chief conservation and science officer at Monetary Bay Aquarium and chair of the report’s expert group, as per Earth.org.

Spring also noted that plastic waste is an "environmental and social crisis" that the US needs to affirmatively address from source to sea. Explaining the consequences, she also added that the waste generated through plastic in the environment by the US has impacted inland and coastal communities, polluting rivers lakes, beaches and bays.

[Image: Unsplash]

'Code Red'

As per the report, cited by North-Eastern Chronicle, the plastic output has increased at least 20-fold since 1966. This has directly impacted ocean life as 8 million metro tonnes of plastic are said to be washed into the water bodies through streams, lakes, and rivers, which is equivalent to "dumping a garbage truck of plastic waste into the ocean every minute." A thousand marine life species are currently vulnerable to plastic waste-related hazards like entanglement and swallowing of micro-plastics.

Calling for immediate action, the research suggested that a number of solutions could at least slow down the pollution if not halt it immediately. Climate activists have also expressed concerns over the data published in the report, which was dubbed as "code red" by Judith Enk, president of the non-profit organisation Beyond Plastics.

(Image: Unsplash)