It’s really hard to track the amount of plastic that goes anywhere. However, we know about how much is made every year, based on companies and countries reporting their economic data, and we can estimate how much is recycled (less than 9% in the US) and landfilled. The rest needs to go somewhere – so we presume it goes into the ocean. Not a very satisfying method, I agree, but the ocean is really big, and people don’t keep careful track of what they throw away (do you? track it all for two weeks, weigh it, and figure out where it goes – it’s harder than you think).
It’s really hard to track the amount of plastic that goes anywhere. However, we know about how much is made every year, based on companies and countries reporting their economic data, and we can estimate how much is recycled (less than 9% in the US) and landfilled. The rest needs to go somewhere – so we presume it goes into the ocean. Not a very satisfying method, I agree, but the ocean is really big, and people don’t keep careful track of what they throw away (do you? track it all for two weeks, weigh it, and figure out where it goes – it’s harder than you think).