One trend I've noticed lately is that companies are using more and more packaging of goods. Some grocery stores are selling individually wrapped oranges!
Also, a lot of the plastic that ends up in the ocean is coming from heavily populated (poorer) areas of Asia. These are places where goods are sold in smaller quantities (presumably since money is more scarce and people cannot buy in bulk). So you end up with a lot of small packaging. And whether people are just sloppy about tossing trash or if there's some systemic problem in keeping trash in bins/landfills, much of it ends up in the water.
November-February each year, Bali's lovely beaches become the landing place for a lot of this plastic. This happens every year, and the photos of it are shocking. They bring out heavy equipment and teams of trash pickers to clean the beaches each day, and the next morning it looks like a landfill again.
Also, a lot of the plastic that ends up in the ocean is coming from heavily populated (poorer) areas of Asia. These are places where goods are sold in smaller quantities (presumably since money is more scarce and people cannot buy in bulk). So you end up with a lot of small packaging. And whether people are just sloppy about tossing trash or if there's some systemic problem in keeping trash in bins/landfills, much of it ends up in the water.
November-February each year, Bali's lovely beaches become the landing place for a lot of this plastic. This happens every year, and the photos of it are shocking. They bring out heavy equipment and teams of trash pickers to clean the beaches each day, and the next morning it looks like a landfill again.