The global crusade of remote Easter Island against ocean plastics

If you bury your hands in Anakena, the most famous paradisiacal beach in Chile Easter Islandwill get fine white sand, but also a good handful of microplastics: Plastic pollution is a plague in this remote territory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, who has undertaken a global crusade to raise awareness in the world.

A study by the Catholic University of Northern Chile estimated that every year 4.4 million objects of garbage arrive on the shores of Rapa Nui, the indigenous name by which this island is known, measuring 163.6 square kilometers and famous in the entire world for its ancient humanoid sculptures, the moais.

Tires, wood, remains of fishing nets, bottles, containers, cans or nylon ropes from fishing boats litter its beautiful coasts every day. Many arrive whole, but other plastics fragment into countless pieces due to years of exposure to the waves and the sun.

““We are not producers of macro and microplastics, we are recipients of what coastal countries produce in both North, Central and South America and Asia.”Pedro Edmunds, mayor of Rapa Nui, tells EFE.

International alliance

Located 3,700 kilometers from the Chilean coast and possessing the largest marine protected area in Latin America, Easter Island is located in the so-called South Pacific Ocean Gyre, a system of circular currents that directly exposes it to two large masses of floating plastic that circulate. by the ocean.

“Our beaches have 50 times more concentration of microplastics than the beaches of continental Chile”laments the councilor.

Edmunds, who has been in office for two decades and has seen how in recent years “plastic has eaten the island,” asked last July at the High Level Political Forum, at the United Nations headquarters, to create an international alliance to combat plastic pollution in the oceans.

Its objective is to bring together Polynesian leaders in Rapa Nui in 2024 and call on the countries of the Pacific Rim to “Stop throwing plastic garbage into the rivers because they take it to the oceans and the oceans in turn bring it to us.”

According to UN Environment, about 11 million tons of plastic waste reach the seas every year, a figure that could triple by 2040 and devastate local ecosystems.

The Catholic University of the North detected that between a twenty% and 80% of the fish and birds of Rapa Nui have microplastics in their stomachs.

Community beach cleaning

While the international alliance takes shape, Rapa Nui focuses on combating the plastic plague day by day, with weekly coastal cleanups in which the Municipality, the Navy, students and volunteers participate.

Uko Tongariki, director of Tourism on the island, explains to EFE that during the two years that Rapa Nui was closed due to the pandemic, its 8,000 inhabitants scanned the rocks in search of garbage.

Between 2020 and 2022 they collected 11 tons of garbage and so far this year they have already collected 1,084 kilos.“We are dedicated to tourism and we were unable to offer our services for two years,” indicates Tongoraki.

The waste is separated and sent to the Orito plant, on the outskirts of Hanga Roa, capital of Rapa Nui, where cans and plastics are pressed and turned into transportable bales.

An ally in this joint fight is the airline Latam, the only one that operates on the island and which has recently signed an agreement to increase the amount of waste it carries on its flights to be recycled in mainland Chile.

“Our agreement today is to bring back to the continent 300 tons a year, more or less a ton of waste a day”the airline’s general manager, Roberto Alvo, emphasizes to EFE.

The Municipality of the island also promoted a textile recycling project during the pandemic, reusing clothing – until August they received almost 9 tons – and distributing it among the inhabitants of the island.

“Either they pay us to receive the garbage or they stop throwing it into the sea, but we have to act now”concludes the mayor in front of the majestic moais of Anakena beach.