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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday May 17 2017, @04:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the pretty-trashy dept.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-39931042

An uninhabited island in the South Pacific is littered with the highest density of plastic waste anywhere in the world, according to a study.

Henderson Island, part of the UK's Pitcairn Islands group, has an estimated 37.7 million pieces of debris on its beaches. The island is near the centre of an ocean current, meaning it collects much rubbish from boats and South America.

Researchers hope people will "rethink their relationship with plastic".

The joint Australian and British study said the rubbish amounted to 671 items per square metre and a total of 17 tonnes.

http://m.pnas.org/content/early/2017/05/09/1619818114

Wikipedia has coverage of Henderson Island and notes:

Henderson Island (formerly also San Juan Bautista and Elizabeth Island) is an uninhabited island in the south Pacific Ocean. It is one of the world's last two raised coral atolls whose ecosystems remain relatively unaffected by human contact, except that they are now subject to tonnes of plastic pollution that collects there, as observed in 2017[3]. Ten of its 51 flowering plants, all four of its land birds and about a third of the identified insects and gastropods are endemic – a remarkable diversity given the island's size.[4]

Measuring 9.6 kilometres (6.0 mi) by 5.1 kilometres (3.2 mi), it has an area of 37.3 square kilometres (14.4 sq mi) and is located 193 kilometres (120 mi) northeast of Pitcairn Island.


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  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday May 17 2017, @05:31PM

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday May 17 2017, @05:31PM (#511238) Journal

    17 tonnes and whaddya get?
    Other day older and your fingers are wet..
    I never got bitten by a shark before
    I owe my leg to the company store...
    I owe my leg to the company store

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..