One of the most remote settled islands is plagued by plastic waste
Enlarge / Plastic water bottles washed up on a beach. (credit: Water Alternatives / Flickr)
Roughly halfway between Argentina and South Africa, in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, is the most remote settlement on earth. The island of Tristan da Cunha, home to 251 descendants of a handful of 19th-century settlers, is the only inhabited island in its tiny archipelago.
Nearby is an inhospitable rock called Inaccessible Island, named for its forbidding cliffs and difficult landings. But something does land on the island: plastic. A paper in PNAS this week pieces together where a lot of that plastic comes from and points to a disconcerting potential source of plastic pollution-international shipping.
The Great Atlantic Garbage DumpA colossal amount of garbage is brought together by vast oceanic currents. Islands near these currents tend to feel the effects, with loads of trash stranding on their shores.
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