Once considered a miracle material, plastic is now a rapidly accumulating environmental threat. Over 6.3 billion metric tons (MT) of plastic waste has been generated since the 1950s, but how and where waste is generated can vary considerably. Given the transboundary nature of plastic pollution, multi-scale, integrated policy approaches are likely to be some of the most effective. To inform multi-scale policy, we need multi-scale science. Here, four topics related to plastic waste management are presented at varying scales and contexts. First, a global-scale assessment of the international plastic scrap trade provides an update and comparison of trade patterns following the implementation of the Chinese ban on imported plastic waste. I estimate 5.6 million MT of plastic scrap have been displaced as of 2019, with evidence that the ban may have reduced mismanaged plastic waste in China, while shifting plastic scrap to other developing economies, including Sub-Saharan Africa based on early indications. Next, a regional-scale assessment of plastic waste management in the Latin America and Caribbean region determined that 7.15 million MT of mismanaged plastic waste was generated in the region in 2020. While upper-middle income countries in the South American subregion contribute most, high-income Caribbean countries have substantially higher rates of per capita mismanaged plastic than the rest of the region. Third, a basin-scale analysis of plastic waste management in the Ganges River basin provides an empirical extrapolation method for comparison to modeled estimates of plastic litter resulting in an estimated 9.8 billion plastic litter items and 245,000 metric tons of plastic litter lost to the basin environment in 2019. Finally, an experimental method for rapid data collection of community-scale anthropogenic debris is assessed and applied to ten communities in the Ganges River basin finding that remote communities have higher per capita litter densities, indicating that rural waste management strategies may reduce the quantities of plastic waste reaching the basin and river environment. Though ranging in context, approach, and scale, these studies taken together reveal patterns in urbanization, income, and rural waste management that may inform strategies for preventing plastic pollution.