Indonesia second biggest marine pollutant, after China

We have all heard about the huge plastic islands found in the Pacific. Ever wonder who are the biggest contributors to the plastic mess ?

JAKARTA: Indonesia produced 3.2 million tons of plastic waste in 2010, with around 1.29 million tons of that ending up in the ocean, according to a study published in the journal Science, The Jakarta Post reported.

The figure places Indonesia second only to China, with its 8.8 million tons of waste, or 27 percent of global plastic waste. About 1.3 million to 3.5 million tons of China’s plastic waste ends up in the ocean.

The study found that around 8 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the world’s oceans every year, or, as the report mentions, enough plastic to cover an area 34 times the size of Manhattan with an ankle-deep layer. It is also the total amount of plastic waste produced globally in 1961.

The 10 biggest marine polluters (by millions of tonnes of plastic waste dumped in the ocean each year) are: China 8.8; Indonesia 3.2; The Philippines 1.9; Vietnam 1.8; Sri Lanka 1.6; Thailand 1.0; Egypt 1.0; Nigeria 0.9; Malaysia 0.9; and, Bangladesh 0.8



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The title "Biggest Marine Pollutant" is somewhat disingenuous. The biggest pollutant isn't a country, its toxic elements like Lead, Mercury, PCBs and radioactivity that are the most destructive to health and environments.

Plastic in and of itself isn't as deadly to fish and birds unless they ingest enough of it. It also doesn't concentrate (bioaccumulate) higher up in the food chain the way other toxins do.

a reply to: 727Sky

Yes, but you try changing the minds of Chinese government.

I am not surprised though. Especially with the population level of China.

S&F for the info.

a reply to: intrptr

I do believe the OP meant "biggest marine polluters", otherwise the post would hardly make sense indeed.

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: intrptr

I do believe the OP meant "biggest marine polluters", otherwise the post would hardly make sense indeed.

Thread title is direct copy of the article title and I agree, kinda misleading.

That was my point.

originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: intrptr

I do believe the OP meant "biggest marine polluters", otherwise the post would hardly make sense indeed.

Thread title is direct copy of the article title and I agree, kinda misleading.

That was my point.

Some of the articles to include the titles are translated by a glorified google translate.. We get some rather interesting word plays in some articles. I am used to it and at times I don't even catch it anymore..Thanks for the replies...

i actually disagree with this for several reason's but first i have a question what country owns this publication???? called "journalscience"
what about the undersea nuclear tests carried out by our western governments does this not polute ?
or the anti-fowling paint on our ships that is now banned in some harbours due to its dangers to all marine life
copper based anti-fowl

or the oil spills ,even worse the chemicals they have used to clean the oil spills.

originally posted by: stuthealien
i actually disagree with this for several reason's but first i have a question what country owns this publication????
what about the undersea nuclear tests carried out by our western governments does this not polute ?
or the anti-fowling paint on our ships that is now banned in some harbours due to its dangers to all marine life
copper based anti-fowl

or the oil spills ,even worse the chemicals they have used to clean the oil spills.

They are speaking of plastic waste or otherwise I suppose the research would have taken years and the article could or should have been made into a book.

As a Chinese friend of mine said; everyone knows the USA is the biggest baddest everything... surprised someone has not already said so... Oh, they were being sarcastic.

Indonesia is a massive group of islands that has the second biggest coastline in the world.. stretching across a huge section of the globe.
Although they have a good economy which I believe is second biggest in Asia they still have a third world mentality...
Bear in mind a huge tourist trade based around their oceans, sealife and wildlife.. could probably account for a alot of that..