We have started seeing more and more plastic-free products in the markets as the world becomes more sustainability-conscious. Along with the efforts to reduce plastic use, it is vitally important to effectively manage the plastic waste.
Mismanaged Waste Flowing into the Environment
According to Our World in Data, mismanaged waste is material that is either littered or inadequately disposed. Clearly, it is essential to manage the waste in appropriate and efficient manners as littered or disposed plastic could directly pollute the environment. The visual content above sorts top and bottom 10 countries by percentage of mismanaged plastic. Data sources are:
The 10 Most-Efficiently-Managing Countries
Focusing on how much a country wastes plastic due to mismanagement, South Korea manages it most efficiently, with only 0.9% of the country’s waste mismanaged. Japan (1.75%) and Australia (1.79%) are following South Korea. Out of the top three, Japan generates the most amount of plastic waste per person.
United Kingdom (1.86%), Qatar (1.88%), Portugal (1.89%), Netherlands (1.89%), and Macao (1.90%) appear after the top three. Notably, Netherlands generates 420 grams of plastic waste per person per day, which is one of the largest amounts in the world.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the last French territory in the North America, and the Dutch part of Sint Maarten in the Caribbean Sea mismanage 1.98% of their wasted plastic.
The 10 Least-Efficiently Managing Countries
The country that manages plastic waste least-efficiently is India. Surprisingly, India either litters or inappropriately disposes 90% of their plastic waste. However, the amount of plastic waste per capita per day is the least among the twenty countries in the charts.
The rest of the list includes North Korea (88.9%), Bangladesh (88.2%), Myanmar (88.0%), Cambodia (87.9%), Pakistan (87.4%), Papua New Guinea (87.4%), Solomon Islands (87.4%), Vietnam (87.4%), and Somalia (87.0%). These countries generate less per capita plastic waste compared to the top 10 countries. Nevertheless, the wastage due to mismanagement is well above the amounts that the top 10 countries waste.
Additionally, it deserves attention that all the countries except for Vietnam at the bottom 10 are suffering from political instability in recent years.
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