Plastic wasteland: Asia’s ocean pollution crisis

THANH HOA, Vietnam: A Vietnamese mangrove draped with polythene, a whale killed after swallowing waste bags in Thai seas and clouds of underwater trash near Indonesian “paradise” islands—grim images of the plastic crisis that has gripped Asia.

About eight million tons of plastic waste are dumped into the world’s oceans every year, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic being tipped into the sea every minute of every day.