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Is their claim factually incorrect?


I think it might actually be factually incorrect. I looked up the Times Of India article that OP's article was referring to [1], and could not find a source on the biggest plastic polluters in the world.

Then, after searching around, the articles [2] and reports [3] that I found all put Indonesia (not India) in the top 5 polluters in the world. They refer to an authoritative source from Science [4], but I'm not able to access this due to the paywall.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Surely the Times of India hasn't confused "Indonesia" for "India", right?

[1] http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/all-forms-of-disposable...

[2] http://www.audubon.org/news/these-5-countries-are-biggest-pl...

[3] PDF! http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris/mckin...

[4] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768



The article claims - India contributes 60% of the plastic in the ocean.

From the Times of India (TOI) article that it refers to - "India is among the four largest contributor who in total contribute 60%". Which considering a journalist's honesty definitely means India is the fourth largest contributor, which would mean India at most contributes 15% of the waste.

That is a long way from the 60% claimed. Considering the reputation of TOI, even the milder claim is quite suspect.


Actually the wording on the sentence is bad, but they said the top 4 contribute to 60%, and claim India is among the top 4.


Hard to say definitively, but the claim seems likely to be wrong. According to this link, India is far from the worst offender.

http://billmoyers.com/2015/02/19/theres-horrifying-amount-pl...


Looks like it, Jambeck et al in Science 2015 rank India 12th for plastic waste input to the oceans.

DOI: 10.1126/science.1260352




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