Singapore · Plastic Emitted to the Ocean by Rivers · tonnes per year (2015)

## What this measures

The estimated mass of floating plastic waste carried into the ocean in 2015 by rivers whose mouths lie in Singapore: the sum of 26 river outfalls in Meijer et al. (2021), mid-point scenario, in metric tons.

## Why it matters

Shows where land-based plastic waste reaches the sea, which is where collection and river clean-up do the most good.

## How to read it

261 tonnes in 2015, 0.0% of the world total, the 77th largest of the 94 countries with at least 100 tonnes.

## What it does not say

A model estimate for one year, not a measurement: the authors’ range for the world is 0.8 to 2.7 million tonnes, and country figures are less certain still. It covers floating macroplastic carried out to sea by rivers, not plastic dumped at sea, lost by fishing fleets, or blown from beaches, and it places plastic where rivers reach the sea, not where the waste was made or exported from. Outfalls just offshore of the boundaries are given to the nearest country. Single release: the series holds one estimate (2015).

## Source

Palanor calculation (scripts/v23a/plastic/assign.py) from Meijer, L.J.J., van Emmerik, T., van der Ent, R., Schmidt, C. and Lebreton, L. (2021), "More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean", Science Advances 7(18): eaaz5803 (doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz5803); data: "Supplementary data for 'More than 1000 rivers…'", Figshare, doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.14515590 (mid-point scenario, 31,819 river outfalls, metric tons a year), licensed CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Country boundaries: Natural Earth 1:10m Admin 0 (public domain). Palanor sums the outfalls by country; the article's own country table (CC BY-NC) is not used.