China’s plastic waste mountain the biggest in the world: study
- The country generates the most plastic waste overall but per capita consumption is a fraction of that in Australia and US, researchers say
- China can ‘become a leader in circular use of the resource’
In its inaugural Plastic Waste Makers Index published on Tuesday, the Perth-based Minderoo Foundation said just 20 companies contributed half of the world’s single-use plastic items thrown away yearly. And a quarter of those were firms headquartered in mainland China.
“China is the world’s most populous country. So it’s no surprise that they generate the world’s largest amount of single-use, plastic waste,” said Dominic Charles, lead author of the study and Minderoo’s director of finance and transparency.
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The researchers said China generated about 18kg (40lbs) of plastic waste per person during the year but that was still only a third of the average 59kg each Australian threw away. The United States was second on the list at 53kg per person and South Korea third at 44kg.
“In terms of per person, China is quite far down the list, ranked at 45 ... China sits at where you expect it for upper middle-income countries,” Charles said.
State-owned oil and gas firm Sinopec was the world’s third largest single-use plastic waste producer, pumping out about 5.3 million tonnes of the product in 2019, contributing about 2 per cent of its revenue, according to the foundation.
Charles said China must take the lead in addressing the problem.