Exactly what I long suspected. Western media frequently show this horrendous mess in the Pacific ocean and imply, or come right out, and try to guilt the U.S. into believing that WE are the culprits. Usually such lamenting articles show the mass of plastic refuse and then immediately discuss how many plastic water bottles the U.S. consumes, suggesting we are responsible.
The fact of the matter is that the U.S. recycles a significant portion of our plastic waste or otherwise properly dispose of it. It is the Asian countries and other third-world countries who pollute with reckless abandon. Ever go to almost any third-world country? Almost all of them have trash all along every street with garbage piles everywhere.
The US has been shipping recyclables to China until recently, when China refused to accept recyclables that were not clean. In short, at least the western US doesn’t recycle anymore - it goes to the landfill for the time being. Don’t know about the rest of the US, or when recycling begins again in earnest.