The small island accumulates 50 times more plastic waste than Chile, whose coastline is more than 2,000 kilometers long.
17:03•Updated 17:05
Located in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean, Easter Island receives a huge amount of plastic waste on its shores. The sea current, known as the South Pacific gyre, collects plastic waste on the island’s shores from South America, Australia, and fishing vessels.
The island’s coastline is about 30 kilometers long, but still more waste accumulates on the beach than on the coast of the mother country Chile. Chile has more than 2,000 kilometers of coastline.
A marine biologist from the Pääsäissaari administration interviewed by the Reuters news agency Hello Pakomio says that 58 percent of Easter Island’s plastic waste comes from Chile, 3,000 kilometers away. Fishing boats are also bad polluters because their crews throw all their waste into the sea.
According to Pakomio, microplastic has contaminated the island’s entire food chain. Microplastics are, for example, in sea urchins, which both residents and animals use as food.
At the end of November, a UN conference will be held in South Korea, where the aim is to limit the amount of plastic waste.
Source: Reuters