Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean

TLDR

Plastic debris in marine environments is well documented, yet the amount of land‑generated plastic entering the ocean remains unknown and depends largely on population size and waste‑management quality. The study aims to estimate the mass of land‑based plastic waste entering the ocean. The authors linked global solid‑waste, population‑density, and economic‑status data to estimate this mass. The analysis estimates that 275 MT of plastic waste was generated in 192 coastal countries in 2010, with 4.8–12.7 MT entering the ocean, and predicts that without waste‑management improvements the amount entering the ocean could rise tenfold by 2025.

Abstract

Plastic debris in the marine environment is widely documented, but the quantity of plastic entering the ocean from waste generated on land is unknown. By linking worldwide data on solid waste, population density, and economic status, we estimated the mass of land-based plastic waste entering the ocean. We calculate that 275 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste was generated in 192 coastal countries in 2010, with 4.8 to 12.7 million MT entering the ocean. Population size and the quality of waste management systems largely determine which countries contribute the greatest mass of uncaptured waste available to become plastic marine debris. Without waste management infrastructure improvements, the cumulative quantity of plastic waste available to enter the ocean from land is predicted to increase by an order of magnitude by 2025.