Plastic waste is a global issue

Plastic is a general term used to describe many different materials that have very different chemical compositions. Even though the use of plastics cuts down on carbon emissions and space in landfills if it is not properly disposed of the affects are detrimental to a vast array of species all around the world. A paper published in Science magazine in February 2015 estimated the amount of garbage getting into the ocean from mismanaged waste disposal around the world. Here is the list of the estimated top twenty countries responsible for plastic pollution  in the ocean due to mismanaged waste:

Rank	Country	Econ. classif.	Coastal pop. [millions]	Waste gen. rate [kg/ppd]	% plastic waste	% mismanaged waste	Mismanaged plastic waste [MMT/year]	% of total mismanaged plastic waste	Plastic marine debris [MMT/year]
1	China	UMI	262.9	1.10	11	76	8.82	27.7	1.32–3.53
2	Indonesia	LMI	187.2	0.52	11	83	3.22	10.1	0.48–1.29
3	Philippines	LMI	83.4	0.5	15	83	1.88	5.9	0.28–0.75
4	Vietnam	LMI	55.9	0.79	13	88	1.83	5.8	0.28–0.73
5	Sri Lanka	LMI	14.6	5.1	7	84	1.59	5.0	0.24–0.64
6	Thailand	UMI	26.0	1.2	12	75	1.03	3.2	0.15–0.41
7	Egypt	LMI	21.8	1.37	13	69	0.97	3.0	0.15–0.39
8	Malaysia	UMI	22.9	1.52	13	57	0.94	2.9	0.14–0.37
9	Nigeria	LMI	27.5	0.79	13	83	0.85	2.7	0.13–0.34
10	Bangladesh	LI	70.9	0.43	8	89	0.79	2.5	0.12–0.31
11	South Africa	UMI	12.9	2.0	12	56	0.63	2.0	0.09–0.25
12	India	LMI	187.5	0.34	3	87	0.60	1.9	0.09–0.24
13	Algeria	UMI	16.6	1.2	12	60	0.52	1.6	0.08–0.21
14	Turkey	UMI	34.0	1.77	12	18	0.49	1.5	0.07–0.19
15	Pakistan	LMI	14.6	0.79	13	88	0.48	1.5	0.07–0.19
16	Brazil	UMI	74.7	1.03	16	11	0.47	1.5	0.07–0.19
17	Burma	LI	19.0	0.44	17	89	0.46	1.4	0.07–0.18
18*	Morocco	LMI	17.3	1.46	5	68	0.31	1.0	0.05–0.12
19	North Korea	LI	17.3	0.6	9	90	0.30	1.0	0.05–0.12
20	United States	HIC	112.9	2.58	13	2	0.28	0.9	0.04–0.11

We share the ocean. Don't ruin it for everyone.

References:

Jambeck JR, Geyer R, Wilcox C, et al. Marine pollution. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science. 2015;347(6223):768-71.