Exceptional and rapid accumulation of anthropogenic debris on one of the world’s most remote and pristine islands

Jennifer L. Lavers, Alexander L. Bond

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    392 Citations (Scopus)
    61 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    In just over half a century plastic products have revolutionized human society and have infiltrated terrestrial and marine environments in every corner of the globe. The hazard plastic debris poses to biodiversity is well established, but mitigation and planning are often hampered by a lack of quantitative data on accumulation patterns. Here we document the amount of debris and rate of accumulation on Henderson Island, a remote, uninhabited island in the South Pacific. The density of debris was the highest reported anywhere in the world, up to 671.6 items/m2 (mean ± SD: 239.4 ± 347.3 items/m2) on the surface of the beaches. Approximately 68% of debris (up to 4,496.9 pieces/m2) on the beach was buried <10 cm in the sediment. An estimated 37.7 million debris items weighing a total of 17.6 tons are currently present on Henderson, with up to 26.8 new items/m accumulating daily. Rarely visited by humans, Henderson Island and other remote islands may be sinks for some of the world’s increasing volume of waste.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)6052-6055
    Number of pages3
    JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    Volume114
    Issue number23
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 6 Jun 2017

    Keywords

    • 7ref2021

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