A study published in Nature revealed that global plastic waste exceeds 57 million tons annually, with India emerging as the largest contributor. The research, led by Costas Velis from the University of Leeds School of Civil Engineering, indicates that India produces approximately 10.2 million tons of plastic waste each year, representing nearly twenty percent of the global total.
The waste, categorized as plastic that enters the open environment rather than proper landfills, reflects the country’s 10-to-1 ratio of unsanitary plastic disposal sites compared to controlled landfills. The researchers noted that this is likely an underestimation, as official Indian data often excludes rural areas and plastic waste burned in the open.
Following India, Nigeria ranks as the second-largest producer of plastic pollution, generating 3.9 million tons annually – less than half of India’s output. While previous studies identified China as the top source of plastic waste, the current findings place it fourth, attributing the drop to recent improvements in China’s waste management practices.
The research highlights that while much of the plastic pollution originates in developing nations, the issue spans across income levels. Around 70 percent of global plastic waste is generated by twenty countries, including four low-income, nine middle-income, and seven upper-middle-income nations.
Despite high income countries contributing significantly to plastic waste, effective waste management systems in these nations prevent them from ranking among the top ninety polluters. The United States, for example, ranks 90th globally, producing approximately 52,500 tons of plastic waste annually.
As reported by thehill.com, in addition to the country specific findings, a study published in Science Advances identified five companies as responsible for a quarter of the world’s plastic pollution. Similarly, a February report from the Center for Climate Integrity estimated that the majority of plastics end up in landfills, with a very small portion being fully recycled.
