Our plastic, their problem: Cleaning up the most polluted island on earth
Photo: Pierre de Parscau
Plastic pieces are the world’s greatest travelers. Plastic has reached the top of the world’s highest mountains, the deepest trenches, can be found encased in Arctic ice cores and even traveling through human blood. So it should be no surprise that plastic has easily found its way to some of the most remote islands in the world. The Pitcairn island group consists of four tiny islands, almost halfway between the coast of South America and New Zealand. Of the four islands, only one is inhabited with the scrappy descendents of the HMS Bounty mutiny. The others are home to hermit crabs, turtles and endemic birds and in the case of Henderson Island, tons and tons of trash.
Henderson Island
Henderson Island is a rocky strip of land with no freshwater source, a craggy, spiky inhospitable forest and a protective barrier reef. It is not exactly a welcoming island for people, to the benefit of nesting seabirds. But due to an unlucky convergence of winds and currents, it has become a magnet for floating ocean plastic. The East Beach of the island is 2.5 kilometers long and in 2014 was documented as one of the most densely polluted beaches in the world - an estimated 38 million pieces of litter - despite having no permanent human population and hardly any visitors. Henderson Island is a Unesco World Heritage Site, a designation granted to natural or cultural sites that have outstanding value to humanity, thanks to its unique geological features and species diversity, including 10 endemic plants and birds.
The impossible clean up
In 2019, an expedition traveled to Henderson Island with the mission to measure the accumulated debris and clean up the site. The scientific study again found an enormous amount of plastic on the beach and estimated the island to contain billions of pieces of micro and nano plastic, tiny plastic pieces created through the degradation of plastic debris. Though the mission to monitor and collect the waste succeeded, large waves crashing into the fringing reef prevented the team from removing the collected plastic off the island.
Despite the challenges of removing plastic off the island, a new expedition in February 2024 set out to do just that, with a secondary focus on taking stock of how much more debris had accumulated since the 2019 clean-up. I was lucky enough to join the Plastic Odyssey boat with the Howell Conservation Fund and was tasked with measuring the new waste and monitoring the state of pollution. Prior to setting sail, studies suggested that the beach, by no fault of its own, had continued to collect debris over the years. Therefore, we knew that it would be critical to collect data and not just plastic to tell the full story behind waste accumulation on Henderson Island, but also the other remote islands around the world.
This mission for many reasons was nicknamed “the impossible cleanup”. Besides not knowing just how much waste needed to be removed from the island, the dangers of the fringing reef made landing boats on the beach and collecting trash incredibly risky. There was also no freshwater source on the island and all water would have to be transported on shore. To top it off, we were traveling during the middle of the hot and sunny Pacific summer.
Photos: Hanna Dijkstra
The cleanup
Luckily, due to seasonal shifts, we were able to land on the beach, using a shallow channel to float a rubber dinghy over the reef and through the waves. When I first stepped foot on the island I was shocked by how much colorful plastic littered the shores, it practically glittered in the sun. We transported tents, equipment, food, water and even a compost toilet on to East Beach. The team spent a week camping on Henderson, preparing the 2019 plastic for removal and collecting all of the new plastic - hard work in the unforgiving tropical sun. We conducted transects and quadrats and kept estimates of the types and amounts of plastic collected. At the end of the week, looking down the beach covered in footsteps and long tracks where big bags of waste had been dragged, it was hard to remember just how polluted the shores had been. The team managed to remove a whopping 9 tons of marine debris from the shores, 6 tons from the previous expedition and 3 tons of newly deposited waste.
Transforming waste
When dealing with marine plastics, the big question always is, “what can be done with the waste?”. Marine plastic is a complicated material, it has been exposed to salt water, sea life and sun and is often brittle and dirty. The Plastic Odyssey team was determined to make something useful out of the tons of waste removed from Henderson Island, to show that waste is a resource, and to serve as a symbol of a successful, yet, impossible cleanup. Using the innovative floating recycling factory on board, the Plastic Odyssey team cleaned, separated, shredded and dried the hard plastic collected on the island, reducing the volume of the waste by over 50%. This plastic was transformed into beams which were transported onto Pitcairn Island and used to build products with support from local residents. The expedition and island team made practical products like a garden box and bench, but most notably a giant symbolic chair affixed with a plaque reading ‘made with waste from Henderson Island’. Other waste, like some of the 1,500 buoys, or tons of fishing nets collected, will hopefully be reused or repurposed by local Pitcairners.
Knowledge is power
A few months after the cleanup expedition, it is safe to bet that Henderson Island has since collected new marine debris. Without continued cleanups, the beach will slowly return to a polluted state where sea turtles and boobies have to share their pristine environment with fishing nets and plastic crates. However, we now know more about how plastics are deposited on the island, can quantify the impact, and demonstrate to decision makers that change is needed to stop this vicious cycle.
The data collected from Henderson Island used the protocols of NOAA and the Ocean Conservancy, which have created practical tools for researchers and citizens to collect plastic data. Our studies identified fishing and maritime debris as a major source of waste, suggesting illegal dumping by boats and reinforcing the problem of lost fishing gear. The sheer number of plastic water bottles found demonstrates that single use plastics affect natural environments far from urban municipalities and populated areas. And the increasing amount of debris found shows that plastic pollution remains an urgent societal problem. Look out for our publications with more details hopefully available this year.
The impact on the tourism industry
Plastic waste management around the world is deeply lacking, even though it is a growing international policy priority with the ongoing UN Plastic Treaty negotiations. The impact of plastic pollution reaches far and wide, affecting industries such as coastal tourism, which rely on the health of marine species and pristine beach environments. Sought-after tourist destinations can be magnets for floating ocean plastic and may not have the resources to effectively manage pollution. This is a particular challenge for small island developing states, where tourism often makes up a large part of the economy but waste management capacity may be limited. However, many islands have taken action, implementing plastic bans and other policies to keep beaches clean, attract tourism and maintain their reputations.
Tourism operators, hotels, resorts and other establishments are also working to manage their waste and reduce the use of single use plastics. Efforts include offering filtered water, supplying reusable containers and cutlery, using traditional natural packaging materials, choosing refillable shampoo dispensers and educating guests on how they can help reduce waste. Some hotels have also partnered with NGOs, community groups and other organizations to conduct beach cleanups and contribute to citizen science activities, involving guests in monitoring the amount of litter found on shore.
Empowerment is key. Tourists have a role to play in not overburdening destinations with waste during travels and practicing mindful consumption. By choosing reusable options over single-use items and opting to refill their water bottle over buying bottled water, they can help make a difference. Luckily, hotels and tourism operators that prioritize sustainability are becoming more and more mainstream and tourists, especially younger generations, care deeply about the health of the planet and are keen to get involved in cleanups and voluntourism activities.
Without large-scale change, Henderson Island will continue to accumulate plastic for years to come, but if we can reduce our global reliance on unnecessary single use plastics, there is hope. Perhaps one day East Beach will be a pristine environment, a wild frontier untouched by humanity’s debris. Until then, why not do your part and consider the health of places like Henderson Island when confronted with the choice of single-use plastics or a better option.
Sea Going Green is a sustainable tourism consultancy working together with island-based tourism operators, hotels and development agencies around the world to combat plastic pollution and foster sustainable waste management practices that enhance resilience. Interested in knowing more? Get in touch.
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