Island of waste: Henderson Island in the South Pacific is littered with nearly 40 million pieces of plastic
Scientists estimate that the beaches of Henderson Island, an uninhabited island that is part of Britain’s overseas territory, are littered with 37,7 million pieces of plastic, according to LondonEvening Standard.
The investigators visited the 14-mile-square isle, part of the Pitcairn Islands, and found up to 671 items of plastic per square metre.
“What’s happened on Henderson Island shows there’s no escaping plastic pollution even in the most distant parts of our oceans.
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“Far from being the pristine ‘deserted island’ that people might imagine of such a remote place, Henderson Island is a shocking but typical example of how plastic debris is affecting the environment on a global scale. Based on our sampling at five sites we estimated that more than 17 tonnes of plastic debris have been deposited on the island, with more than 3,570 new pieces of litter washing up each day on one beach alone,” stated Dr Jennifer Lavers, from the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies.
“Plastic debris is an entanglement and ingestion hazard for many species, creates a physical barrier on beaches to animals such as sea turtles, and lowers the diversity of shoreline invertebrates. Research has shown that more than 200 species are known to be at risk from eating plastic, and 55% of the world’s sea birds, including two species found on Henderson Island, are at risk from marine debris,” Dr Lavers added.
Henderson Island was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 and is located 3,100 miles away from the nearest major population centre. Its location is also near the South Pacific Gyre, which is a circular ocean current that gathers man-made debris from South America and deposited by fishing boats.
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