COVID-related plastic waste highest from Asian countries: Study

 Most of the global plastic waste from the pandemic is entering the ocean from rivers, with Asian rivers accounting for 73 percent of the total discharge of plastics.

Beijing: More than eight million tonnes of pandemic-associated plastic waste have been generated globally, with more than 25,000 tonnes entering the global ocean, according to an alarming study. Data from the start of the pandemic in 2020 through August 2021, showed that most of the global plastic waste entering the ocean is coming from Asia, with hospital waste representing the bulk of the land discharge.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlighted that most of the global plastic waste from the pandemic is entering the ocean from rivers, with Asian rivers accounting for 73 percent of the total discharge of plastics. The top three contributors are the Indus, Shatt al-Arab, and Yangtze rivers, which discharge into the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and the East China Sea, respectively.

European rivers, on the other hand, account for only 11 percent of the discharge, with minor contributions from other continents.