Clean-Up on ‘World’s Most Polluted Beach’ Bags Six Tonnes of Waste
Valpak’s James Beard has helped bag six tonnes of waste from the most densely-polluted beach in the world and concluded that prevention is the only viable option to halt the tide of marine plastic litter.
James Beard, Recycling Services Manager at outsourced recycling and resource management services firm, Valpak, has helped bag six tonnes of waste from the most densely-polluted beach in the world, and concluded that prevention is the only viable option to halt the tide of marine plastic litter.
The Explorers Club Flag Expedition, sponsored by Valpak, targeted Henderson Island, an uninhabited World Heritage site in the remote Pitcairn islands.
“Up to two-thirds of plastic lie beneath the surface, and larger pieces are continuously breaking up into ever-smaller fragments,” explained Beard “Humanity could spend several lifetimes trying to clean up such problems.
“Instead, our efforts must turn to preventing plastic from entering the waterways in the first place – a challenge made difficult in a world where a third of the population has no access to effective waste management,” he continued.
The primary purpose of the expedition was to generate data that could be used by the scientific community to investigate the scale and impact of marine plastics.
Source: Ben Messenger | waste-management-world.com
