More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean

Related solutions

• Technology

  Pyrolysis and other chemical recycling

  Mixed record

  Heats mixed plastic without oxygen to make oils. Promoted as a fix for hard-to-recycle plastic, but its benefits are strongly debated.

  Collection and recyclingResearch and science
• Research

  Evaluating scenarios toward zero plastic pollution

  Lau, W. et al. (Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ) | Science | 2020

  Modelled every major intervention together and found that combining reduction, substitution, better collection and recycling could cut plastic flows to the ocean by about 80 percent by 2040. The basis of the report “Breaking the Plastic Wave”.

  Policy and advocacyResearch and science
• Research

  Turning off the Tap: How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy

  UN Environment Programme | UNEP | 2023

  UNEP’s roadmap: accelerate reuse, recycling and substitution, and it estimates plastic pollution could fall by 80 percent by 2040.

  Policy and advocacyResearch and scienceReuse and refill
• Technology

  Bubble barriers

  Deployed in European cities

  A perforated tube on the riverbed releases a curtain of bubbles that pushes floating and suspended plastic to a catchment at the bank.

  River and ocean interception