Howell Conservation Fund's 2024 Return to Henderson Island

In 2019, Howell Conservation Fund (HCF) founder Brett Howell traveled to the far reaches of the globe to clean up the world’s most plastic polluted beach. Henderson Island - one of the Pitcairn Islands - sits 3,000 miles from any major landmass, located in the center of the South Pacific gyre. The island is uninhabited by humans; however, the combination of ocean currents and society’s excessive use of single-use plastics make the island a repository for the world’s plastic waste. 

The 2019 expedition, recognized by The Explorers Club as Flag Expedition #97, successfully cleaned up the 1.5 mile-long East Beach, collecting plastic waste down to the size of bottle caps. However, due to factors such as inclement weather conditions and the impassability of the surrounding reef, the 14,000 pounds of waste collected from East Beach have had to remain in secure locations above the high-tide line, awaiting a return expedition to finish the job. 

Brett is once again en route to Henderson Island to continue the work that he started five years ago, this time as The Explorers Club Flag Expedition #235. The 2024 expedition is a multinational collaboration aimed at completing the work from five years ago, and continuing to forge new partnerships to address plastic pollution in our oceans.

Henderson Island Expedition 2024 Details

While the 2019 cleanup was part of a British expedition, the 2024 expedition will take place in collaboration with Plastic Odyssey, an international expedition dedicated to combating plastic pollution in our oceans. The Plastic Odyssey ship is not only providing transportation to and from French Polynesia; it also contains a mobile recycling workshop onboard, which will recycle plastics collected from Henderson Island into building materials for the Pitcairn Community.

Plastic Odyssey will facilitate the extraction of the plastic waste through an assortment of technical innovations designed to bypass the island’s reef barrier, including:

Parasail: The first solution to be tested for crossing the coral reef involves an innovative parasailing approach, towed by the expedition vessel.

Fishing buoys: Fishing buoys will be tied together to form a garland which will be towed from the ship.

Floating pontoon: A floating pontoon will be towed directly by a winch on board Plastic Odyssey vessel. 

Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB): In case of adequate weather and wave conditions, a RIB landing could be tested.

More details about the approaches can be found on Plastic Odyssey’s Henderson Island expedition website. 

This expedition will also allow build on the scientific findings from our 2019 expedition and continue our process scientific discovery, led by plastic pollution scientist Hanna Dijkstra, PhD. The primary research goal of the 2024 work is to assess the state of pollution on Henderson Island, and to conduct an analysis on effectiveness of technologies to recover and recycle plastic collected from remote islands. Details around how the findings will be published will be determined after the expedition is complete.