5 countries dump more plastic into the oceans than the rest of the world combinedToday, on World Oce

5 countries dump more plastic into the oceans than the rest of the world combined

Today, on World Oceans Day, our planet’s seas are choking on junk: Soda bottles, plastic bags and tons of cigarette butts. Distant spots in the ocean — called garbage gyres — have become vortexes where humanity’s trash bobs atop the water for miles on end. 

Worse yet, the filth floating on the surface accounts for only 5 percent of all the plastic trash dumped into the sea. The other 95 percent is submerged beneath, where it strangles underwater creatures and wrecks the aquatic ecosystem.

It turns out that five countries are the leading contributors to this crisis …