Picture a garbage truck filled with plastic – bags, water bottles, food containers, soap bottles – the items of our everyday lives. Now, picture that garbage truck backing up to a beach and dumping its entire load into the ocean. Then, a minute later, another truck. And another. Every minute. All day. Every day.

This amounts to an estimated 8-12 million MT of plastic pollution entering the world’s oceans globally – each and every year. For perspective, it is estimated that by 2025 there will be a tonne of plastic in the ocean for every three tonnes of fish and – if nothing changes – by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

Thursday (8 June) was World Oceans Day, and since 1992, the day has created a moment for governments, civil society, academia, and private sectors to recommit to protecting Earth’s most valuable natural resource. This year’s theme is ‘Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing,’ which signals optimism about finding a solution to a crisis with profound consequences if unresolved.

The US Government has a strong and long-lasting partnership with the Government and the people of Sri Lanka, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), similarly, has a strong partnership here that includes working together to address ocean plastics and the effects of climate change.

It’s part of my job as USAID’s Mission Director to ensure we continue this work because public health, economic prosperity, and biodiversity are at significant risk if we don’t address the issue.

However, to solve the problem, we need to first address why the threat is intensifying.

Today, 50% of plastics are single-use, such as water bottles, straws, and take-away food containers. Globally, the main sources of ocean plastic pollution are land-based, stemming from urban centres with inadequate waste collection, disposal, and management. Simply put, the exponential growth of plastics use has far outpaced the infrastructure needed to manage it. 

Sri Lanka, for example, generates an estimated 7,000 MT of solid waste per day, but only about half of it gets collected and half of the uncollected trash goes into open dumps and some of that into canals and waterways and eventually, the ocean. 

No country can escape the issue of solid waste disposal and its environmental effects, including the US. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported the country produced nearly 300 million tonnes of solid waste in 2018, upwards of five pounds per day per person. 

Plastic was the third largest category, much of it from durable goods and the containers and packaging categories, according to the EPA. And while recycling has increased in the United States, there is still a great deal to be done.

Fortunately, the ocean plastics crisis is solvable. In March 2022, UN member states endorsed the UN treaty to end plastic pollution, which addresses plastic lifecycle issues by promoting sustainable production and consumption, representing a shift in focus from post-consumption practices to holistic systems. This growing momentum for a systematic approach to the problem creates mandates for all in the plastic waste value chain. 

That is the key. The problem must be tackled from all directions. Individuals can reduce plastic pollution through reducing their use of single-use plastics and proper recycling. Industry can reduce plastics through reuse, refill models, and improved product recyclability. Governments can enact and enforce policies that encourage product recovery from industry at national levels and solid waste management, citizen engagement, and social safeguards at local levels. 

Sri Lanka’s ‘National Action Plan on Plastic Waste Management 2021-2030,’ which focuses on the strategy of the 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – is an example of the Government addressing the issue head on.

USAID supports Sri Lanka in tackling the ocean plastics crisis through our five-year climate strategy with programmes that work to reduce plastic and improve solid waste management to keep plastic out of the ocean.

Tides are indeed changing. As Sri Lanka shows, increasing public awareness coupled with plastic reduction commitments from Government and private actors are converging around positive, systems-led actions to address the ocean plastic crisis.

Doomsday scenarios for the world’s oceans do not have to play out as long as all parties take constructive action to stop them. Studies show we can reduce 80% of annual plastic leakages by strengthening policies and regulations, investing in infrastructure, and adopting changes that offer social, economic, and environmental benefits. 

The plastic we produce and consume is our collective responsibility to manage. Let’s stem the tide of plastic pollution by practising the 3Rs – Reducing plastic use, Reusing plastics when possible, and Recycling when we’re done. 

The health of our oceans, and planet, depends on it. For more information on solid waste management in Sri Lanka, visit the Central Environmental Authority website – cea.lk. 

(The writer is Mission Director for the United States Agency for International Development [USAID] Sri Lanka and the Maldives. USAID is the US Government’s humanitarian and development arm and has provided development and humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka and its people for more than 60 years.)