5. The moral responsibility of the global north

It’s often reported that just 10 rivers, most of which run through populous areas of Asia, carry huge quantities of mismanaged plastic into the oceans and are responsible for 90% of ocean pollution.

The true number is probably nearer 1000 rivers (this is still only 1% of all rivers globally). But the fact remains that there are ocean pollution leakage hotspots concentrated on the populated coasts of Asia, and to a lesser extent South America and Africa.

But while plastic pollution might be more visible in these areas, it is not an issue limited to parts of the Global South. The United States, for example, produces more plastic waste than any other country. Plastic footprints (amount of plastic waste per person) in the United States are, on average, five times larger than in India or China, and three times higher than in Indonesia.Recycling plastic generally costs more than getting rid of plastic waste in “alternative ways." This results in a very small proportion of plastic in the United States being recycled domestically (~2-3% of total plastic), while a far larger proportion is incinerated. The US also exports a portion of its collected plastic waste.

Like the US, the UK has one of the highest per capita plastic footprints in the world, and lacks sufficient infrastructure or financial incentive to deal with the amount of plastic used. Where discarded plastic is collected for recycling around half is incinerated. A further 20% is sent abroad for recycling, and just 12% is actually recycled in the UK.

The US and UK are by no means alone in failing to deal with their domestic plastic waste, but the fact that two of the wealthiest countries in the world are exporting plastic waste is a concern. This concern is compounded by the shipment of plastic waste to countries such as India, Indonesia, Ghana and Vietnam.

Of course, it is ethically dubious to be exporting waste to countries that are facing significant waste management challenges of their own. There have also been suggestions that cheap imported plastic waste is making the situation worse by disincentivizing countries from investing in collection systems for their own plastic waste, and Thailand has recently announced a ban on plastic waste imports, from 2025.

But it gets worse. Though waste is – theoretically – shipped in order to be recycled, it has been estimated that up to 70% of plastic entering recycling facilities around the globe is discarded because it is unusable. The majority of this will inevitably end up as waste that pollutes the environment there (though Indonesia has apparently sent some rejected single-use plastic on ships back to the U.S.). It is now well documented that exports are not all recycled and often end up causing environmental harm.

Considering the significant amounts of exported plastic from the U.S. are leaking into the environment, along with the illegal littering and dumping on US soil, the USA may be one of the biggest global contributors to plastic waste leaking into the environment (up to 1.4 million metric tons per year ending up as plastic pollution in nature).

It is not just the US, but many countries in the Global North that bear a significant moral responsibility to address the plastic pollution crisis – a responsibility that is more considerable taking into account the historical roles in perpetuating the problem.