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Comment on Ten Rivers Contribute Most of the Plastic in the Oceans (2018)parent

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"not all the plastic waste originates in these countries, some of it is western trash sent there for recycling"

I don't see how that makes it any better. Recycled waste certainly shouldn't be ending up in rivers.

We need to reduce our waste, but we should also handle our waste better. Dumping it in rivers is not acceptable.

Recycled waste certainly shouldn't be ending up in rivers.

Recycling is a pipe dream. In fact it means shipping tones of garbage to 3rd world country and let them do the grunt work. Out of sight out of mind.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/burning-truth-...

https://www.spiegel.de/international/tomorrow/electronic-was...

It depends a lot on the kind of material being recycled. Paper has been getting recycled very effectively for decades. Metals are pretty recyclable. Plastic is notoriously hard, especially the thin plastic from bags, apparently.

Whatever the case, it shouldn't be dumped in rivers.

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