‘Foreign' Plastic Invades Great Nicobar Island

Researchers have found litter from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand on the island, which hosts a biosphere reserve

- Jacob Koshy

The pristine beaches of the Great Nicobar Island, India’s southernmost territory, are under threat from plastic. A survey of five beaches in the islands recorded the presence of plastic bottles.

Sixty of these were analysed and found to be of ‘non-Indian origin,’ according to researchers, whose findings appear in the latest edition of Current Science.

“Major portion of the litter (40.5%) was of Malaysian origin. It was followed by Indonesia (23.9%) and Thailand (16.3%). Other countries contributed a minor portion,” researchers Biraja Kumar Sahu and B. Baskar note in their study.

The litter of Indian origin only amounted to 2.2%, they said.

Mr. Sahu is affiliated to the CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology and Mr. Baskar to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester in Minnesota, USA.