Xinhua News Agency, Washington, May 16 (Reporter Lin Xiaochun) When we think of islands, we may think of sunshine, sea, sand and other beautiful scenery. But Henderson Island, a remote and uninhabited island in the South Pacific, is different. Researchers have found that nearly 38 million pieces of plastic waste are scattered on its beaches, making it the place with the highest density of plastic waste pollution in the world.

Henderson Island is part of the Pitcairn Islands in the United Kingdom, an area of 37.3 square kilometers, is an isolated and uninhabited island, was in 1988 because of its seabirds and other resources named a World Natural Heritage Site by the United Nations. Because it is 5,000 kilometers away from the nearest mainland of South America, researchers only visit it once every five to 10 years.

British and Australian scientists report in the new issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, because of Henderson Island's proximity to the center of the South Pacific gyre, they found in 2015 that it has become a garbage island, a large amount of human activity generated by the ocean currents on the beach, 99.8 percent of which is plastic, Some of the trash is estimated to have drifted in from South America, and some is discarded from fishing boats.

The survey revealed that Henderson Island had as many as 672 pieces of plastic per square meter of beach, the highest density in the world, and as many as 4,497 pieces of plastic per square meter buried within 10 centimeters of the sand. Overall, the island is estimated to contain 37.7 million pieces of plastic, weighing a combined 17.6 tons. In addition, a large amount of new waste washes up on beaches every day.

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