Research paper reveals millions of pieces of plastic on remote island
17/05/2017
An Australian research student, Jennifer Lavers, has given an account of a study trip she made in 2015 with colleagues to Henderson Island, a United Nations World Heritage Site in the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific.
As part of her work at the University of Tasmania, Ms Lavers has submitted a report on the “exceptional and rapid accumulation of anthropogenic debris on one of the world’s most remote and pristine islands”. Henderson Island is normally uninhabited but Ms Lavers and her colleagues documented that, during their stay, there were 671.6 items of plastic debris per square-metre.
They estimated that the total amount of debris on Henderson amounts to 37.7 million items weighing a total of 17.6 tonnes, with more than 25 new pieces of plastic accumulating daily.
On learning of the new research paper, circular economy entrepreneur Dr Gunter Pauli said redesigning plastics has become a matter of urgency. He added that making plastics that are biodegradable in soil or light doesn’t mean they will be biodegradable in salt water because salt preserves many different kinds of material, including plastics.
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