10 Rivers Responsible for 90% of Plastic Trash Flowing into the Wor...

There are about 165 major rivers in the world. These rivers are long and wide enough to be classified as major rivers with large volumes of water flowing through them every day. Of this 165, just 10 rivers are responsible for 90% of plastic trash flowing into the world's oceans.

Eight are in Asia and two are in Africa. Ranked from the highest amount of plastic waste to the lowest, they are:

1.) Yangtze River, China
2.) Indus River, China / Pakistan / India
3.) Yellow River, China
4.) Hai He River, China
5.) Nile River, Egypt / Sudan / Ethiopia / Uganda
6.) Ganges River, India / Bangladesh
7.) Pearl River, China
8.) Amur River, China
9.) Niger River, Nigeria / Mali / Niger
10.) Mekong River, Vietnam / China / Myanmar / Thailand / Laos / Cambodia

These 10 river systems have several common characteristics. They run adjacent to large concentrations of people, where public awareness about proper waste disposal and recycling is lacking.

By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans

According to the World Economic Forum, if we keep producing (and failing to properly dispose of) plastics at predicted rates, plastics in the ocean will outweigh fish pound for pound in 2050.

The study shows that the worldwide use of plastic has increased 20-fold in the past 50 years, and it is expected to double again in the next 20 years. By 2050, we will be making more than three times as much plastic stuff as we did in 2014.

Cleanup Effort Does not Solve the Problem

While the various ocean cleanup initiatives happening around the world are laudable, this is just a scratch on the surface. Fixing the symptoms and not the root cause will not solve the problem.

Prevention of plastics entering the major rivers would be the right way to go and the effort is not herculean if we focus our effort on these 10 major rivers.

Sources:
https://www.reference.com/geography/many-rivers-world-9f5453a632ec8d1a
https://www.seeker.com/earth/conservation/these-ten-rivers-are-responsible-for-90-percent-of-the-plastic-in-the-oceans
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/20/by-2050-there-will-be-more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-worlds-oceans-study-says/?utm_term=.64631b2c77f0

10 Rivers Responsible for 90% of Plastic Trash Flowing into the World's Oceans

There are about 165 major rivers in the world. These rivers are long and wide enough to be classified as major rivers with large volumes of water flowing through them every day. Of this 165, just 10 rivers are responsible for 90% of plastic trash flowing into the world's oceans.

By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans

Cleanup Effort Does not Solve the Problem

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