Where The World’s Ocean Plastic Waste Comes From

Where The World’s Ocean Plastic Waste Comes From In the past decade, plastic pollution has become one of the most visible environmental issues worldwide. Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic enter the ocean, affecting marine life, coastal communities, and ecosystems. This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, ranks the countries responsible for the highest cumulative leakage of mismanaged plastic waste that escaped and washed up on other countries’ beaches from 2010 to 2019. The data for this visualization comes from the Global Plastic Hub. Asia Leads in Ocean Plastic Leakage China is the largest contributor, responsible for over 2.6 million tonnes of plastic waste that ended up on foreign beaches. It’s followed by the Philippines (1.7 million tonnes), and India (966,000 tonnes). Rapid economic growth, urbanization, and inadequate waste management systems contribute to these high figures. Seven of the top 10 countries on the list are in Asia, underlining the region’s central role in the global ocean plastic crisis. Rank Country Tonnes (2010-2019) 1 🇨🇳 China 2,683,631 2 🇵🇭 Philippines 1,695,260 3 🇮🇳 India 966,447 4 🇧🇷 Brazil 639,665 5 🇮🇩 Indonesia 599,020 6 🇳🇬 Nigeria 496,841 7 🇻🇳 Viet Nam 484,457 8 🇹🇷 Turkey 354,441 9 🇹🇭 Thailand 338,685 10 🇲🇾 Malaysia 332,756 11 🇧🇩 Bangladesh 315,755 12 🇻🇪 Venezuela 231,132 13 🏝️ Bird Island 231,132 14 🇲🇲 Myanmar 209,495 15 🇪🇬 Egypt 208,321 16 🇩🇿 Algeria 157,952 17 🇹🇿 Tanzania 114,737 18 🇬🇭 Ghana 107,907 19 🇹🇼 Taiwan, Province of China 97,418 20 🇺🇾 Uruguay 94,544 21 🇹🇳 Tunisia 89,176 22 🇭🇹 Haiti 84,238 23 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 83,121 24 🇱🇾 Libya 73,477 25 🇲🇿 Mozambique 72,578 26 🇨🇲 Cameroon 67,709 27 🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire 57,394 28 🇵🇰 Pakistan 53,641 29 🇦🇴 Angola 52,877 30 🇨🇴 Colombia 47,506 31 🇲🇦 Morocco 44,087 32 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 41,648 33 🇵🇪 Peru 39,863 34 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea 36,165 35 🇾🇪 Yemen 35,625 36 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago 35,244 37 🇧🇯 Benin 32,298 38 🇹🇬 Togo 31,773 39 🇲🇽 Mexico 31,004 40 🇿🇦 South Africa 30,352 41 🇪🇨 Ecuador 29,678 42 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands 27,939 43 🇭🇳 Honduras 26,859 44 🇬🇷 Greece 25,983 45 🇺🇦 Ukraine 25,859 46 🇬🇳 Guinea 25,167 47 🇰🇲 Comoros 24,691 48 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 23,826 49 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, China 23,471 50 🇷🇺 Russian Federation 20,770 51 🇸🇳 Senegal 19,569 52 🇱🇧 Lebanon 19,420 53 🇬🇹 Guatemala 19,015 54 🇦🇱 Albania 18,501 55 🇺🇸 U.S. 16,910 56 🇵🇦 Panama 16,346 57 🇯🇲 Jamaica 16,260 58 🇧🇿 Belize 15,383 59 🇬🇾 Guyana 15,235 60 🇳🇮 Nicaragua 15,199 61 🇱🇷 Liberia 14,220 62 🇰🇼 Kuwait 12,740 63 🇬🇲 Gambia 12,178 64 🇸🇷 Suriname 11,589 65 🇸🇩 Sudan 11,308 66 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 10,819 67 🇮🇷 Iran 10,750 68 🇨🇬 Congo 9,476 69 🇰🇵 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 8,873 70 🇰🇪 Kenya 7,941 71 🇸🇻 El Salvador 7,504 72 🇳🇱 Netherlands 6,488 73 🇬🇧 UK 6,242 74 🇹🇱 Timor-Leste 6,238 75 🇮🇹 Italy 5,930 76 🇪🇸 Spain 5,708 77 🇪🇸 Canary Islands (Sp.) 5,708 78 🇪🇷 Eritrea 5,677 79 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 5,328 80 🇦🇷 Argentina 4,847 81 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 4,384 82 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 4,099 83 🇭🇷 Croatia 3,964 84 🇩🇯 Djibouti 3,401 85 🇯🇵 Japan 3,208 86 🇸🇾 Syrian Arab Republic 3,019 87 🇦🇺 Australia 2,920 88 🇦🇺 Ashmore & Cartier Is. 2,920 89 🇰🇷 Republic of Korea 2,865 90 🇲🇷 Mauritania 2,845 91 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates 2,659 92 🇸🇴 Somalia 2,371 93 🇮🇱 Israel 2,368 94 🇫🇯 Fiji 2,340 95 🇰🇭 Cambodia 2,212 96 🇬🇦 Gabon 2,199 97 🇲🇬 Madagascar 2,132 98 🇩🇪 Germany 1,899 99 🇷🇴 Romania 1,825 100 🇲🇪 Montenegro 1,804 101 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 1,591 102 🇨🇱 Chile 1,447 103 🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe 1,255 104 🇫🇷 France 1,105 105 🇻🇺 Vanuatu 997 106 🇨🇻 Cape Verde 975 107 🇶🇦 Qatar 868 108 🇼🇸 Samoa 809 109 🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam 797 110 🇵🇹 Portugal 702 111 🇵🇹 Azores Islands (Port.) 702 112 🇵🇹 Madeira Islands (Port.) 702 113 🇬🇩 Grenada 553 114 🇸🇪 Sweden 514 115 🇮🇪 Ireland 508 116 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 466 117 🇵🇱 Poland 439 118 🇬🇪 Georgia 424 119 🇨🇦 Canada 421 120 🇩🇲 Dominica 408 121 🇫🇮 Finland 397 122 🇳🇦 Namibia 387 123 🇧🇧 Barbados 302 124 🇺🇸 Puerto Rico (USA) 287 125 🇴🇲 Oman 258 126 🇹🇴 Tonga 246 127 🇱🇻 Latvia 211 128 🇧🇭 Bahrain 204 129 🇧🇸 Bahamas 179 130 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 172 131 🇫🇲 Micronesia 167 132 🇨🇩 DRC 149 133 🇳🇴 Norway 130 Plastic Waste Doesn’t Stay Local Plastic debris often travel thousands of kilometers across oceans, carried solely by currents, wind, tides, and time. For example, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a massive swirling zone between California and Hawaii—accumulates plastic from as far as Asia, North America, and South America. The patch spans around 1.6 million km², comparable to twice the size of Texas. The annual economic costs due to marine plastic pollution are estimated to be between $6-19 billion. According to the OECD, preventing land-based plastic leakage into the ocean across 38 member countries and 10 major plastic waste emitters in Asia and Africa could cost more than $86 billion. If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Ranked: The Most Expensive U.S. Wildfires, So Far on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist. Tyler Durden Tue, 09/09/2025 – 04:15