Plastic pollution

They signed off a document stating that the flow of plastic into the ocean must be stopped.

Scientists welcomed the statement, but were unhappy the agreement was only based in principle, with no firm targets or timetables.

Ministers say it's a milestone because it shows governments, industry and the public that a major change is needed.

Vidar Helgesen, Norway's Environment Minister, has been leading the UN debate on plastic pollution.

Norway has proposed a zero tolerance of plastic pollution and suggested a legal treaty banning plastic waste from entering the sea at the UN Environment Ministers' meeting.

The United Nations said unless new action was taken there would be more plastic than fish in the Earth's oceans by 2050.

Sefanaia Nawadra said Pacific countries support Norway's resolution and many had their own national laws already addressing plastic pollution.

Captain Charles Moore, who led the mission around Easter Island and Robinson Crusoe Island, said the South Pacific gyre is at least 1 million square kilometres in size.

He said the garbage patch, which is mostly made up of millions of tiny fragments of plastic and waste from the fishing industry, is probably the most deserted marine environment on the planet.

"And that marine desert phenomenon was more dramatic than I've ever seen in the South Pacific."

This was endorsed during an urgent meeting last week.

“I hate plastic bag! a bolt and provoking statement, that Hon. Wayne Maepioh Premier of Western Province made at a local ministerial and stakeholder holder officials meeting held at the headquarters of the Western Province government.

More than fifteen officials within the government local line ministries and Gizo based environmental NGO’s and organizations were summoned to attend the meeting.

Researchers at Cambridge University have discovered that the larvae of the moth, which eats wax in bee hives, can also degrade plastic.

Experiments show the insect can break down the chemical bonds of plastic in a similar way to digesting beeswax.

Each year, about 80 million tonnes of the plastic polyethylene are produced around the world.

The plastic is used to make shopping bags and food packaging, among other things, but it can take hundreds of years to decompose completely.