Yahoo News Scale of plastic pollution ‘underestimated’ as scientists find 414 million pieces on remote island
Researchers found 4154 million pieces of plastic pollution from bottles to straws to toothrburshes, littering two tiny, remote coral atolls.
The sheer scale of the debris on Australia’s Cocos Islands has made scientists reassess the amount of plastic pollution that may already be in the world.
The researchers say that much of the waste is buried beneath the surface, meaning that previous surveys may have missed it.
Even the figure of 414 million may be an underestimate, the researchers warned.
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The researchers surveyed seven out of 27 Cocos Islands, and found 262 tons of plastic, including 977,000 shoes.
The researchers say that 93% of the debris was below the surface.
Lead author Jennifer Lavers from the University of Tasmania said, ‘Islands such as these are like canaries in a coal mine and it’s increasingly urgent that we act on the warnings they are giving us.
‘Plastic pollution is now ubiquitous in our oceans, and remote islands are an ideal place to get an objective view of the volume of plastic debris now circling the globe.’
