Why cheap waste management is key to stopping plastic pollution
Of every 5 kilograms of plastic waste produced globally, 1 kilogram ends up polluting the environment.
全球每产生 5 公斤塑料垃圾，就有 1 公斤最终污染环境。
This has serious consequences for people and other animals alike.
这对人类和其他动物都会产生严重后果。
It pollutes waterways, harms wildlife, and burning plastic generates toxic air that millions breathe.
它污染水道，伤害野生动物，燃烧塑料会产生数百万人呼吸的有毒空气。
In countries with good waste management systems, far less plastic pollutes the environment.
在拥有良好废物管理系统的国家，塑料对环境的污染要少得多。
Across high-income countries, plastic pollution per person is 100 times lower than in lower-income countries.
在高收入国家，人均塑料污染比低收入国家低 100 倍。
If every country managed its waste in this way, the world would cut plastic pollution by more than 98%.
如果每个国家都以这种方式管理废物，世界塑料污染将减少 98% 以上。
1
1
In the chart below, you see two key metrics: how much plastic waste is generated and how much plastic pollution is produced per person.
在下图中，您可以看到两个关键指标：产生了多少塑料废物以及每人产生了多少塑料污染。
These estimates are taken from research by Joshua Cottom and colleagues.
这些估计来自 Joshua Cottom 及其同事的研究。
2
2
Clearly, people in high-income countries don’t produce 100 times less pollution than those in lower-income countries because they use less plastic.
显然，高收入国家的人们产生的污染并不比低收入国家的人们少100倍，因为他们使用的塑料更少。
Per person, they use much more.
每人使用的量要多得多。
The huge difference in pollution rates is a consequence of how waste is managed.
污染率的巨大差异是废物管理方式的结果。
In high-income countries, most waste is collected and sent to controlled landfills or to facilities that incinerate or recycle it.
在高收入国家，大多数废物被收集并送往受控垃圾填埋场或焚烧或回收设施。
In many low- and middle-income countries, people find themselves in a very different situation: less than half of solid household waste is collected .
在许多低收入和中等收入国家，人们发现自己处于截然不同的境地：不到一半的固体家庭垃圾得到收集。
People often have little choice but to burn or dump it.
人们通常别无选择，只能焚烧或倾倒它。
But even the waste that is collected is often left in open dumps, where it’s at risk of leaking into the environment.
但即使是收集到的废物也经常被留在露天垃圾场，存在泄漏到环境中的风险。
Most pollution, then, comes from uncollected waste and poorly managed disposal sites.
因此，大多数污染来自未收集的废物和管理不善的处置场。
You can see this in the chart.
您可以在图表中看到这一点。
3
3
What, then, is causing plastic pollution in rich countries?
那么，是什么造成了富裕国家的塑料污染呢？
Roughly half comes from littering: people thoughtlessly chucking their plastic bottles, wrappers, and bags.
大约一半来自乱扔垃圾：人们不假思索地扔掉塑料瓶、包装纸和袋子。
If we built a world where people don’t do this, we could increase that 98% reduction to 99%.
如果我们建立一个人们不这样做的世界，我们可以将 98% 的减少量增加到 99%。
What does this mean for our options to tackle plastic pollution?
这对我们解决塑料污染的选择意味着什么？
Cutting plastic use in rich countries has very little impact on global plastic pollution: the world’s high-income countries generate less than 0.5% of the total.
富裕国家减少塑料使用量对全球塑料污染影响甚微：世界高收入国家的塑料污染量不足总量的 0.5%。
Reducing use in low- and middle-income countries could certainly help.
减少低收入和中等收入国家的使用肯定会有所帮助。
But even large reductions wouldn’t get close to eliminating pollution.
但即使大幅削减也无法接近消除污染。
If one in every five kilograms of plastic waste in these countries ends up as pollution, even halving plastic waste would still leave tens of millions of tonnes leaking into the environment each year.
如果这些国家每五公斤的塑料垃圾中就有一个最终成为污染，那么即使将塑料垃圾减半，每年仍将有数千万吨塑料垃圾泄漏到环境中。
4
4
Improving waste management systems in low- and middle-income countries is therefore crucial.
因此，改善低收入和中等收入国家的废物管理系统至关重要。
Getting there does not require fancy solutions.
实现这一目标并不需要花哨的解决方案。
It needs investment in very basic infrastructure in the right places.
它需要在正确的地方投资非常基本的基础设施。
In a study published in Nature Sustainability , Malak Anshassi and Timothy Townsend estimate that high-income countries typically spend about $50 per person on waste management.
在《自然可持续发展》杂志上发表的一项研究中，马拉克·安沙西和蒂莫西·汤森估计，高收入国家通常每人在废物管理上花费约 50 美元。
5 In low-income countries, it’s $1 at most.
5 在低收入国家，最多为 1 美元。
6 This is where investment makes the biggest difference: each dollar spent upgrading systems in a low- or lower-middle-income country prevents roughly 25,000 times more plastic pollution than the same dollar spent on advanced infrastructure in a rich country.
6 这就是投资发挥最大作用的地方：在低收入或中低收入国家升级系统时，每花费一美元，所减少的塑料污染比富裕国家在先进基础设施上花费的每一美元要多大约 25,000 倍。
Since capital is usually the constraint, focusing on basic infrastructure — collection and controlled landfills — beats expensive options like incinerators and recycling plants.
由于资本通常是限制因素，因此专注于基础设施（收集和受控垃圾填埋场）比焚烧厂和回收厂等昂贵的选择要好。
7
7
To most, this won’t sound like a particularly attractive way to spend money.
对于大多数人来说，这听起来并不是一种特别有吸引力的花钱方式。
Who really wants to invest in waste collection trucks and landfills?
谁真正想投资垃圾收集车和垃圾填埋场？
Not many.
不多。
But for those passionate about ending plastic pollution, this is where attention and resources could make the biggest difference.
但对于那些热衷于结束塑料污染的人来说，这才是关注和资源可以发挥最大作用的地方。
Making the case for waste management and ways to make these processes and infrastructure cheaper could be the best thing you do to stop bottles clogging the world’s rivers and toxic pollution filling the air.
提出废物管理的理由以及如何使这些过程和基础设施更便宜可能是阻止瓶子堵塞世界河流和空气中充满有毒污染的最佳做法。
We already have the knowledge and tools to reduce global plastic pollution to just 2% of its current levels.
我们已经拥有将全球塑料污染减少到目前水平的 2% 的知识和工具。
With the right focus and investment, most of it is preventable.
只要有正确的关注和投资，大部分问题都是可以预防的。
Many thanks to Max Roser and Edouard Mathieu for editorial feedback and comments on this article.
非常感谢 Max Roser 和 Edouard Mathieu 对本文的编辑反馈和评论。
Around 0.5% of plastic waste ends up in the ocean.
大约 0.5% 的塑料垃圾最终流入海洋。
Most of it stays close to the shoreline.
大部分都靠近海岸线。
Which countries and rivers emit the most plastic to the ocean?
哪些国家和河流向海洋排放的塑料最多？
What does this mean for solutions to tackle plastic pollution?
这对于解决塑料污染的解决方案意味着什么？
How much plastic ends up in the ocean?
有多少塑料最终流入海洋？
Where does it come from?
它从哪里来？
The world generated around 52 million tonnes of plastic pollution in 2020.
2020 年，全球产生了约 5200 万吨塑料污染。
If all countries had the same rate of plastic pollution as high-income countries — 0.12 kilograms per person — this would generate 960,000 tonnes of plastic pollution each year [0.12 * 8 billion people / 1000 to convert to tonnes].
如果所有国家的塑料污染率与高收入国家相同——每人 0.12 公斤——每年将产生 96 万吨塑料污染[0.12 * 80 亿人/1000 换算成吨]。
That’s a reduction of around 98% [(52,000,000 - 960,000) / 52,000,000 = 98%].
减少了约 98% [(52,000,000 - 960,000) / 52,000,000 = 98%]。
Cottom, J.
科托姆，J.
W., Cook, E., & Velis, C.
W.、E. 库克和 C. 韦利斯
A.
A.
(2024).
（2024）。
A local-to-global emissions inventory of macroplastic pollution.
从地方到全球的大塑料污染排放清单。
Nature, 633(8028), 101-108.
自然，633（8028），101-108。
This combines estimates of the amount of plastic used and waste generated in each country with data on how waste is managed to understand how much pollution is generated and where in the system it comes from.
这结合了每个国家塑料使用量和废物产生量的估计以及废物管理方式的数据，以了解产生了多少污染以及污染来自系统的哪个位置。
This relies on some assumptions about how much plastic waste stored in sanitary landfills or open dumps might leak into the environment.
这依赖于一些关于卫生填埋场或露天垃圾场中储存的塑料废物可能泄漏到环境中的假设。
This is the most comprehensive global assessment of plastic pollution to date, but its results and conclusions are similar to those of previous studies.
这是迄今为止最全面的全球塑料污染评估，但其结果和结论与之前的研究相似。
All point towards a similar conclusion: that most plastic pollution and ocean plastics are generated in low- to middle-income countries, even though they use less plastic per person.
所有这些都指向一个相似的结论：大多数塑料污染和海洋塑料是在低收入和中等收入国家产生的，尽管这些国家的人均塑料使用量较少。
Jambeck, J.
詹贝克，J.
R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T.
R.，盖尔，R.，威尔科克斯，C.，西格勒，T.
R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., ...
R.，佩里曼，M.，安德拉迪，A.，...
& Law, K.
＆劳，K.
L.
L。
(2015).
（2015）。
Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean.
塑料废物从陆地流入海洋。
Science.
科学。
Meijer, L.
梅杰，L.
J.
J。
J., van Emmerik, T., van der Ent, R., Schmidt, C.
J.、范·埃默里克，T.、范德恩特，R.、施密特，C.
& Lebreton, L.
& 勒布雷顿，L.
(2021).
（2021）。
More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean.
1000 多条河流占全球流入海洋的河流塑料排放量的 80%。
Science Advances.
科学进步。
Lebreton, L.
莱布雷顿，L.
C.
C.
M.
M。
et al.
等人。
(2017).
（2017）。
River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans.
河流塑料排放到世界海洋。
Nature Communications.
自然通讯。
In rich countries, littering dominates, not because people litter more, but because other sources are so small.
在富裕国家，乱扔垃圾占主导地位，不是因为人们乱扔垃圾更多，而是因为其他来源太少。
The “one in every five kilograms” figure varies by the particular income group: in low-income countries, it’s one-in-two, in lower-middle income it’s one-in-three, and in upper-middle income it’s one-in-seven.
“每五公斤一公斤”的数字因特定收入群体而异：在低收入国家为二分之一，在中低收入国家为三分之一，在中上收入国家为七分之一。
Low and middle-income countries combined produce around 200 million tonnes of plastic waste each year.
低收入和中等收入国家每年总共产生约 2 亿吨塑料垃圾。
If they halved this, it would be 100 million tonnes.
如果将其减半，则将达到 1 亿吨。
If one in five kilograms becomes pollution, that would still mean 20 million tonnes each year.
如果五公斤中的一公斤成为污染，那仍然意味着每年有 2000 万吨。
Anshassi, M., & Townsend, T.
安沙西，M.，和汤森，T.
G.
G。
(2025).
（2025）。
Improving waste systems in the global south to tackle international environmental impacts.
改善南半球的废物处理系统以应对国际环境影响。
Nature Sustainability.
自然可持续性。
The authors give the contrast of Italy and the Netherlands, which spend $54 and US$60 per person, respectively, to Mexico and Hungary at US$2 and US$7 per person.
作者将意大利和荷兰的人均消费分别为 54 美元和 60 美元，与墨西哥和匈牙利的人均消费 2 美元和 7 美元进行了对比。
In low-income countries, spending levels are likely lower than this: in some countries, it’s likely less than $1 per person.
在低收入国家，支出水平可能低于此：在某些国家，每人可能低于 1 美元。
MacLeod, M.
麦克劳德，M.
(2024).
（2024）。
Waste management won’t solve the plastics problem—we need to cut consumption.
废物管理并不能解决塑料问题——我们需要减少消耗。
Nature.
自然。
Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations.
我们的文章和数据可视化依赖于许多不同的人和组织的工作。
When citing this article, please also cite the underlying data sources.
引用本文时，请同时注明底层数据来源。
This article can be cited as:
这篇文章可以引用为：
We are a live site and we keep our work maintained.
我们是一个活跃的网站，我们会保持我们的工作。
So our articles are often changed, including the data.
所以我们的文章经常改，包括数据。
You can browse previous versions of this work here.
您可以在此处浏览此作品的先前版本。