The 10 countries where the most plastic pollution is produced (in millions of tonnes per year)
A fifth of all discarded plastic in the world is either littered or burned, new research suggests.
Academics at the University of Leeds estimate that 52.1 million tonnes of waste – enough to fill a double-decker bus more than 13 times over – becomes pollution every year.
Most of it – 57%, according to their study – is incinerated in homes, on streets or at informal dumps without proper environmental controls.
The rest (43%) is dumped in nature, such as rivers or fields, rather than being recyled or disposed of in organised landfill sites.
Most plastic pollution is produced in places where people have ‘no option but to dump or burn it’, lead author Dr Costas Velis says.
Areas where there is no access to organised waste collection services are estimated to cover some 1.5 billion people worldwide.
India tops the table when it comes to the amount of plastic pollution produced per year, with 9.3 million tonnes.
A woman scours a dumping ground for recyclable plastic in Lahore, Pakistan (Picture: AFP)
It was followed by Nigeria (3.5 million tonnes) and Indonesia (3.4 million).
In contrast, the UK was found to produce just over 4,600 tonnes of plastic pollution in the same time – mostly from littering.
The rankings show some countries produce wildly different amounts of plastic pollution regardless of how big or populated they are.
For example, China produced more than three times less than India (2.8 million tonnes) even though the two countries have similar population sizes.
Volunteers collect littered plastic in Manila, Philippines (Picture: Getty)
China is nonetheless one of the worst offenders, coming in at fourth place.
The worst offender in Europe was Belarus (86th place with 55,703 tonnes), closely followed by Bulgaria (84th place with 50,612 tonnes).
The most squeaky clean was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the microstate Vatican City which produced zero plastic pollution.
The best performers among countries which have at least several million people were Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Norway and Israel.
Dr Velis’ team said richer countries generally produce much more plastic waste, but the vast majority of it is collected and processed.
They say plastic pollution is an ‘urgent global human health issue’ as burning plastic not only releases greenhouse gases but also cancer-causing substances.
How much plastic waste does each country produce?
Here are the figures (in tonnes per year) for plastic pollution produces by each country, as estimated by the University of Leeds team.
India: 9,275,777
Nigeria: 3,532,479
Indonesia: 3,352,229
China: 2,808,179
Pakistan: 2,567,461
Bangladesh: 1,748,215
Russia: 1,702,453
Brazil: 1,444,824
Thailand: 995,718
Democratic Republic of the Congo: 963,328
Philippines: 819,843
Egypt: 807,596
Iraq: 799,891
Tanzania: 778,932
Mexico: 767,447
Vietnam: 754,959
Myanmar: 725,433
Ethiopia: 651,876
Uganda: 617,565
South Africa: 609,757
Kenya: 602,475
Iran: 560,725
Angola: 550,441
Sudan: 529,961
Turkey: 486,398
Afghanistan: 457,234
Cameroon: 432,957
Ukraine: 417,655
Cambodia: 413,564
Uzbekistan: 395,211
Côte d’Ivoire: 394,834
Ghana: 385,727
Morocco: 385,558
Algeria: 379,622
Argentina: 350,880
North Korea: 344,633
Syria: 328,329
Yemen: 327,239
Mozambique: 323,380
Sri Lanka: 273,779
Peru: 270,769
Guatemala: 263,614
Venezuela: 249,864
Nepal: 238,989
Kazakhstan: 238,988
Haiti: 229,493
Somalia: 225,305
South Sudan: 215,243
Zambia: 215,139
Senegal: 214,610
Chad: 211,833
Mali: 205,639
Rwanda: 201,068
Malaysia: 197,552
Madagascar: 190,784
Burkina Faso: 185,331
Malawi: 171,474
Benin: 168,522
Zimbabwe: 162,871
Tajikistan: 156,028
Paraguay: 154,547
Colombia: 153,451
Burundi: 145,231
Romania: 141,944
Tunisia: 129,723
Papua New Guinea: 129,684
Laos: 127,090
Honduras: 126,403
Serbia: 126,143
Jordan: 124,391
Niger: 122,201
Kyrgyzstan: 118,570
Togo: 99,108
Nicaragua: 99,108
Azerbaijan: 90,491
El Salvador: 89,809
Ecuador: 88,460
Guinea: 85,918
Mauritania: 83,749
Republic of Congo: 79,951
Bolivia: 79,523
Dominican Republic: 79,382
Turkmenistan: 70,966
Liberia: 60,755
Sierra Leone: 59,936
Belarus: 55,703
Central African Republic: 50,706
Bulgaria: 50,612
Cuba: 48,447
United States: 47,649
Lesotho: 44,823
Eritrea: 43,719
Lebanon: 43,520
Panama: 41,213
Libya: 40,313
Namibia: 36,896
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 33,423
Equatorial Guinea: 33,101
Mongolia: 32,469
Botswana: 32,272
Gambia: 29,142
Palestina: 28,427
Georgia: 27,950
Costa Rica: 24,190
Jamaica: 23,653
Albania: 22,259
Guinea-Bissau: 22,175
Kosovo: 20,974
Swaziland: 20,084
Djibouti: 19,978
Timor-Leste: 18,139
Moldova: 17,712
Macedonia: 16,312
Armenia: 15,872
Comoros: 11,306
Chile: 11,283
Solomon Islands: 8,956
France: 8,832
Gabon: 7,838
Germany: 7,725
Italy: 7,684
Poland: 7,079
Maldives: 7,015
Belize: 6,972
Trinidad and Tobago: 6,962
Guyana: 6,907
Spain: 6,241
Vanuatu: 6,209
Japan: 6,185
Fij:i 6,182
Montenegro: 5,762
Bhutan: 5,694
Cape Verde: 5,693
Western Sahara: 4,736
United Kingdom: 4,622
Suriname: 4,199
São Tomé and Príncipe: 3,681
Saudi Arabia: 3,444
Mayotte: 3,079
Canada: 3,024
Oman: 3,019
South Korea: 2,857
Hungary: 2,707
Samoa: 2,613
Mauritius: 2,544
Australia: 2,198
Greece: 1,909
Puerto Rico: 1,909
Czech Republic: 1,549
Taiwan: 1,398
Lithuania: 1,393
Micronesia: 1,361
Kiribati: 1,354
Austria: 1,239
Saint Lucia: 1,185
Portugal: 1,181
Belgium: 1,167
Netherlands: 1,156
Tonga: 1,123
Slovakia: 1,087
Uruguay: 961
Latvia: 956
Sweden: 918
United Arab Emirates: 918
French Guiana: 916
Croatia: 901
Dominica: 798
Switzerland: 731
Grenada: 694
Finland: 663
Ireland: 659
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 607
Denmar:k 606
Israel: 605
Norway: 527
Slovenia: 525
New Zealand: 518
Marshall Islands: 465
Reunion: 392
Hong Kong: 341
Kuwait: 273
American Samoa: 238
Bahamas: 237
Guadeloupe: 236
Estonia: 224
Anguilla: 218
Martinique: 197
Palau: 195
Singapore: 175
Qatar: 171
Greenland: 142
Barbados: 138
Seychelles: 121
Wallis and Futuna: 119
Curaçao: 112
Tuvalu: 112
Cyprus: 106
New Caledonia: 99
Saint Helena: 89
Northern Cyprus: 89
Virgin Islands, U.S.: 78
Brunei: 77
Antigua and Barbuda: 71
Luxembourg: 69
Aruba: 68
Saint-Martin: 63
French Polynesia: 55
Bahrain: 55
Christmas Island: 48
Saint Kitts and Nevis: 43
Guam: 41
Malta: 34
Cayman Islands: 32
Iceland: 31
Niue: 30
Northern Mariana Islands: 27
Macao: 25
British Virgin Islands: 24
Turks and Caicos Islands: 24
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba: 23
Sint Maarten: 21
Montserrat: 20
Tokelau: 16
Faroe Islands: 14
Andorra: 12
Jersey: 10
Isle of Man: 9
Bermuda: 8
Guernsey: 8
Cocos Islands: 7
Paracel Islands: 7
Åland: 6
Nauru: 6
Cook Islands: 5
Akrotiri and Dhekelia: 5
Saint-Barthélemy: 5
Liechtenstein: 5
San Marino: 5
Falkland Islands: 3
Monaco: 2
Saint Pierre and Miquelon: 1
Gibraltar: 1
Pitcairn Islands: 1
Svalbard and Jan Mayen: 1
Norfolk Island: 1
Vatican City: 0
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.