WHAT DOES THIS SHOW?

This graph examines not only the volume of plastic that is exported from the United States alone each year, but also highlights the primary importers of plastic waste. What’s interesting to note is that in all three years, Canada consistently remains one of the biggest importers of the US’s plastic waste, likely due to the proximity of the two countries. Other notable trends that are consistent throughout all three years are that the US exports large volumes of plastic waste to East and Southeast Asia and that although there are exports to Europe and South America, these are not as significant.

Breaking down the map further shows other interesting patterns. The most eye-catching trend would be in 2017, in which there was a sudden uptick in exporting plastic waste to China as a result. This rise is notable due to both the volume of plastic waste exported (no other country matches the amount in any of the three years) and due to the abruptness in the trend -- it was only something that occurred in 2017. After 2017, the Chinese government implemented the National Sword Policy, which limited the type of waste products that could be imported (Javorsky 2019); this is then reflected in the 2018 version of our map. Other notable elements include the increase of plastic waste export in Malaysia; while Malaysia was merely a minor importer of US plastic waste in 2016, it rapidly grew to become one of the larger importers in 2017 and 2018.

Overall, all three years show that the exportation of the United States’s plastic waste is very global in nature. Though the individual countries and the volume may change from year to year, what this graph highlights is that the United States acts as a huge distributor of plastic. Not only does this affect how waste travels on a surface level, but there are also many underlying factors (such as economic, environmental, etc) that are affected as a result.

Although our datasets have shown the quantifiable side of plastic pollution and its effects, it doesn’t necessarily portray the full picture of how devastating waste pollution can be.

The following are some stories that show the effects of plastic waste and plastic waste mismanagement from a more intimate perspective.

Click on a story to read more.

An uninhabited Australian island littered with plastic

This article dives into the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean as a consequence of plastic being used in general and highlights a route in which oceanic patterns lead to the accumulation of plastic waste in certain areas.

Capturing freshwater stories through the lens of a camera

Water inadequacy is one of the main consequences and issues that we covered in our earlier data; this article captures some of these effects on communities around the world through imagery.

This article dives into how plastics affect the oceanic environment, and how plastic waste in turn affects the ecosystems beyond human civilization. In other words, it provides insight into the effects plastics have on non-humans.

Air Pollution Is Starting to Choke Africa

This story is less directly related to plastic waste itself, but reveals how incineration and factories that emit chemicals lead to a higher risk of death.

Perhaps the most famous example of plastic waste and the accumulation of waste materials, this is an encyclopedia entry on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, how it is formed, and the challenges humans currently face in trying to clean it up.

This map shows the amount of plastic waste that are mismanaged in each country. Hover over a country to see the amount of mismanaged plastic waste.
Plastics contain toxic chemicals, which are phthalates, poly-fluorinated chemicals, bisphenol A (BPA), brominated flame retardants, and antimony trioxide. Therefore, mismanaged plastic waste can pollute the environment. The pollutants in water and air increase the risk of health issues, such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD), neurobehavioral disorders, and reproductive health issues. This is why it is important to raise awareness towards mismanaged plastic waste in the world. (Alabi et.al., 2019)

Select a layer below to see how different countries compare in terms of each downstream effect from mismanaged plastic wastes.

WHAT DOES THIS SHOW?

This particular map takes a look at the world in 2010. In this case, the management and mismanagement of plastic waste is defined by the following factors: landfilling, plastic incineration, recycling of plastics, and consequential environmental pollution by plastic waste (Alabi et.al., 2019).

The mismanaged plastic waste section reveals that many of the largest nations (such as China, Russia, the US, and Brazil) have copious amounts of waste that are not managed properly, implying that their current methods of handling plastic waste are inadequate in methodology legislation. Notably, Canada’s level of mismanagement is one of the lower ones in the world; in relation to other countries, it only had 7959 tonnes of mismanaged plastic.

However, if one were to look at the next visualization (cardiovascular deaths, or CVD per 100,000), the results of this data do not reflect the information provided in the first visualization. Here, Russia suffered from the most CVD in 2010, while other countries that had huge amounts of mismanaged plastic waste had significantly lower rates. The United States in general stands out in particular; while their mismanagement of plastic waste is among the worst in the world, their CVD deaths are one of the lowest.

This can be attributed to a few possibilities -- one such factor could be that the United States’s medical system is advanced and robust enough to prevent cardiovascular deaths. However, perhaps what is even more important is that the United States is a huge exporter of its own plastic waste (as seen in the first visualization). This has far reaching consequences. One of the most obvious is that by not needing to process or deal with its own waste, the United States has inadvertently passed on the effects of handling plastic waste. For instance, by not incinerating waste within the United States, the United States would not suffer as much from issues such as air quality being polluted by the chemicals that result from the incineration process. As these pollutants often lead to an increased risk of deaths (especially cardiovascular deaths), this health-related consequence is then passed on to those who import the US’s waste. In addition , while the immediate health/environmental consequences do not affect the United States, in the long run it will affect the US as environmental consequences do not stay isolated within a single country.

Finally, there is the inadequate water system coverage map. This map portrays an image of inequity as it reveals the socio-economic disparities between multiple countries. With this map one can see that the countries that are the biggest sources of plastic waste mismanagement are not the countries that suffer from water inadequacy. Instead, water inadequacy is heaviest in Afghanistan and central Africa. India also shows an intersection of high rates of mismanaged waste and relatively high levels of inadequate water coverage. of This map ultimately shows that those who contribute the most in terms of dealing with plastic waste and generating plastic waste often have the resources to combat the effects of discarding plastic waste, while other countries in development or that lack the infrastructure to handle plastic waste often suffer instead.

Overall, the impact map reveals the consequences of plastic waste beyond the initial act of discarding it within the household. It reveals these trends on a worldwide scale and provides a wider image of inequity in terms of who is truly affected by the mismanagement of plastic waste and who suffers from a lack of infrastructure and resources.