Plastic is choking our rivers says definitive study.
The project, published in the Journal of Environmental Management, provides the largest continuous dataset on plastic pollution in rivers worldwide, revealing that 66% of river debris is large, visible plastic items like bottles, bags and cutlery.
Unlike previous research relying on models and estimates, this study is based on real, community-led data collection from eight rivers across four continents.
Lead author Chase Brewster, project scientist at UCSB’s Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory, said, “This is the first on-the-ground data that helps shed light on why plastic is showing up in rivers in the first place.”
The study collected data from rivers in Mexico, Jamaica, Panama, Ecuador, Kenya, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia between 2020 and 2023.
Teams removed and analyzed 3.8 million kilograms of river debris, equivalent to 380 million single-use plastic bottles, highlighting the scale of the pollution crisis.
The researchers estimate that 1.95 million metric tons of plastic travels down rivers globally every year — the weight of 5.3 Empire State buildings.
Professor Douglas McCauley, director of the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory and co-author, said, “That is an immense amount of plastic pollution.”
Since 2020, the coalition has removed over 7.3 million kilograms of debris, with more than 4.4 million kilograms being plastic.
Researchers recommend policies such as minimum recycled content, bottle deposit fees, support for informal waste pickers, improved waste infrastructure and international frameworks to address the problem.
“This work is really about turning off the tap of plastic pollution at its source,” Brewster added. “It’s not just cleaning rivers, it’s about doing purposeful science and supporting the communities that are the real leaders that will make this change last.”
New study offers first real-world data on plastic pollution in rivers worldwide appeared first on Energy Live News.