The buildup of plastic in the ocean is a real problem. During the past decade or so, U.S. and European lawmakers’ “answer” has come in the form of bans, regulations, or taxes on various single-use plastic products. Yet such policies will do little to resolve the issue because they don’t address the key sources of the problem — particularly the fact that the waste emanates from Asia, Africa, and South America.

After sampling trash found in an area of the ocean known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” where ocean currents trap waste, The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit organization, found that the primary culprits were not single-use plastics. Forty-six percent of the trash was composed of fishing nets, which, combined with ropes and fishing lines, amounted to 52% of the trash. Nets and ropes are a particularly bad problem for wildlife that get trapped in them. The rest included hard plastics ranging from large plastic crates and bottle caps to small fragments referred to as microplastics, comprising 8% of the floating debris.