Eli5 How is so much trash getting in the ocean?

Question

Eli5 How is so much trash getting in the ocean?

In: 2

Answer 1

All rivers flow to the ocean. Prior to landfills and public sanitation, your trash just went in the river and it was carried away and not your problem anymore.

That’s still how waste management works in a lot of the world.

Even in the first world companies get fined for dumping waste in rivers pretty regularly. Because quite frankly it’s cheaper than doing it properly. On that note, NEVER do anything on the Hudson river. It is so polluted that eating a fish from it is a valid reason to go to the hospital.