Green

Which Countries Pollute the Most Ocean Plastic Waste?

Published

1 month ago

February 17, 2023

Louis Lugas Wicaksono

Featured Creator

Article/Editing:

Freny Fernandes

Ocean plastic waste polluting countries

Visualized: Ocean Plastic Waste Pollution By Country

Millions of metric tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year. While half of this plastic waste is recycled, incinerated, or discarded into landfills, a significant portion of what remains eventually ends up in our oceans.

In fact, many pieces of ocean plastic waste have come together to create a vortex of plastic waste thrice the size of France in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii.

Where does all of this plastic come from? In this graphic, Louis Lugas Wicaksono used data from a research paper by Lourens J.J. Meijer and team to highlight the top 10 countries emitting plastic pollutants in the waters surrounding them.

Plastic’s Ocean Voyage

First, let’s talk about how this plastic waste reaches the oceans in the first place.

Most of the plastic waste found in the deep blue waters comes from the litter in parks, beaches, or along the storm drains lining our streets. These bits of plastic waste are carried into our drains, streams, and rivers by wind and rainwater runoff.

The rivers then turn into plastic superhighways, transporting the plastic to the oceans.

A large additional chunk of ocean plastic comes from damaged fishing nets or ghost nets that are directly discarded into the high seas.

Countries Feeding the Plastic Problem

Some might think that the countries producing or consuming the most plastic are the ones that pollute the oceans the most. But that’s not true.

According to the study, countries with a smaller geographical area, longer coastlines, high rainfall, and poor waste management systems are more likely to wash plastics into the sea.

For example, China generates 10 times the plastic waste that Malaysia does. However, 9% of Malaysia’s total plastic waste is estimated to reach the ocean, in comparison to China’s 0.6%.

Rank	Country	Annual Ocean Plastic Waste (Metric tons)
#1	🇵🇭 Philippines	356,371
#2	🇮🇳 India	126,513
#3	🇲🇾 Malaysia	73,098
#4	🇨🇳 China	70,707
#5	🇮🇩 Indonesia	56,333
#6	🇲🇲 Myanmar	40,000
#7	🇧🇷 Brazil	37,799
#8	🇻🇳 Vietnam	28,221
#9	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	24,640
#10	🇹🇭 Thailand	22,806
	🌐 Rest of the World	176,012
	Total	1,012,500

The Philippines—an archipelago of over 7,000 islands, with a 36,289 kilometer coastline and 4,820 plastic emitting rivers—is estimated to emit 35% of the ocean’s plastic.

In addition to the Philippines, over 75% of the accumulated plastic in the ocean is reported to come from the mismanaged waste in Asian countries including India, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Thailand.

The only non-Asian country to make it to this top 10 list, with 1,240 rivers including the Amazon, is Brazil.

The Path to a Plastic-free Ocean

The first, and most obvious, way to reduce plastic accumulation is to reduce the use of plastic. Lesser production equals lesser waste.

The second step is managing the plastic waste generated, and this is where the challenge lies.

Many high-income countries generate high amounts of plastic waste, but are either better at processing it or exporting it to other countries. Meanwhile, many of the middle-income and low-income countries that both demand plastics and receive bulk exports have yet to develop the infrastructure needed to process it.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Misc

Chart: Automakers’ Adoption of Fuel-Saving Technologies

See how 14 major automakers have adopted various fuel-saving technologies in this infographic based on EPA data.

Published

1 month ago

February 17, 2023

Marcus Lu

Automakers’ Adoption of Fuel-Saving Technologies

Over the past few decades, automakers have invested plenty of time and money into various fuel-saving technologies. This includes innovations such as direct injection, cylinder deactivation, and auto start-stop features.

Keeping track of which companies have adopted these technologies can be difficult. Thankfully, the EPA’s 2022 Automotive Trends Report includes data that shows which automakers have adopted what technologies.

Understanding the Data

The percentages in this infographic show how 14 major automakers have adopted various fuel-saving technologies into their lineups. The report did not specify if this data is for North American models only.

Brand	Turbo	Direct Injection	Cylinder Deact.	CVT	7+ Gears	Start-Stop	Hybrid	PHEV/EV/FC
Subaru	22%	99%	0%	95%	0%	80%	0%	0%
Nissan	5%	72%	0%	87%	12%	0%	0%	1%
Honda	53%	79%	25%	61%	38%	24%	7%	0%
Mazda	27%	100%	45%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Toyota	3%	0%	0%	36%	38%	19%	22%	2%
Kia	26%	47%	0%	42%	45%	50%	2%	0%
Hyundai	18%	44%	0%	23%	46%	21%	4%	2%
BMW	99%	99%	0%	0%	98%	64%	25%	7%
Volkswagen	77%	94%	3%	0%	90%	71%	20%	7%
Mercedes-Benz	94%	100%	8%	0%	100%	77%	22%	0%
Tesla	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	100%
Ford	80%	56%	21%	2%	92%	83%	5%	3%
GM	37%	91%	54%	9%	74%	75%	0%	1%
Stellantis	13%	10%	22%	1%	96%	45%	15%	3%

There are several geographical trends hidden within this dataset. To make them more obvious, we color-coded the 14 automakers by their nationality.

Asian Automakers

Starting from the top of the graphic, we can see that Japanese automakers are big proponents of gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines, as well as continuously variable transmissions (CVT).

With a GDI engine, fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber at high pressure. This is more precise than the traditional method known as port injection, which results in greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions.

CVT transmissions use pulleys instead of gears to improve fuel efficiency. CVTs are best paired with smaller, lower output engines, which may explain why Japanese automakers (who have a history of building smaller cars) have adopted them so widely.

Note that Toyota is listed as having 0% adoption of direct injection, but this isn’t exactly true. The automaker uses its D4-S system, which is a combination of both port and direct fuel injection.

South Korean automakers, on the other hand, have a more balanced technology profile, adopting a wider number of technologies, but each to a lesser degree.

German Automakers

German automakers are well-known for their expertise in building combustion engines, so it’s no surprise they use turbocharging and direct injection in nearly every model.

They’ve also heavily adopted high gear-count transmissions (7 or more gears), which can not only enable better fuel efficiency, but also faster acceleration. The downside to these transmissions is that they can be very heavy and complex.

Furthermore, German automakers utilize the auto start-stop feature in many of their vehicles, and are tied with Toyota in terms of hybrid adoption.

American & Other Automakers

Ford and GM’s technology profile is similar to the Germans, using turbocharging and direct injection combined with 7+ gear transmissions.

GM uses turbocharging less frequently, but stands out with its high usage of cylinder deactivation technology, at 54% of models. Referred to by GM as Active Fuel Management (AFM), this feature shuts down half of the engine’s cylinders during light driving.

GM is known for its small-block V8 engines, which can be had in many of the company’s models. Given the high cylinder count of a V8, AFM is a clever trick for improving fuel efficiency.

Stellantis, which is a merger between Italian-American Fiat Chrysler and French Peugeot, has not widely adopted many technologies except for the 7+ gear transmission.

Finally there’s Tesla, which does not use any of the aforementioned technologies due to it being a pure electric automaker.

Going The Way of the Dinosaur

The technologies shown in this infographic have helped to bring the average mpg of a new car to record highs in recent years.

Many of these innovations could become obsolete as automakers slowly phase out gasoline engines. In 2021, six major automakers including Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and GM pledged to phase out the sale of new gasoline and diesel-powered cars by 2040.

Other companies such as Porsche believe that the combustion engine still has a future, pointing to synthetic fuels as a means of significantly reducing CO2 emissions.