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Ocean plastic waste is choking Easter Island

This video is part of: Centre for Nature and Climate

Ocean plastic waste is choking Easter Island. Rapa Nui, as the island is called locally, sits 3,680km off the coast of Chile, in the middle of a swirling system of currents called the South Pacific Gyre. The Gyre acts as a vortex, sucking in plastic waste from Australia and South America as well as plastic discarded by fishing boats in the area.

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