Kahi Pacarro of Parley Hawai’i updates us on the recent microplastic invasion on O’ahu

It was still dark out when I woke up to catch the intersection of high tide and sunrise as the incessant onshore winds began to slow down. The winds had been sweeping across the North Pacific Gyre for two weeks, pushing billions of pieces of plastic onto our eastern coastlines. I wanted to see the scene for myself and do what I could do elevate the issue and help stop this becoming the new normal.

Almost ten years ago, it was on this same beach that I was inspired to do something about the issue of plastic pollution. As I was showing my friends from Aotearoa where I grew up, I commented how our beaches were pretty clean. They responded with raised eyebrows as if I were blind – "Don't you see it Kahi?" I obviously didn't. "Look closer, look at your feet." That's when I noticed them. Tiny, confetti-like plastic pieces were spread out across the beach and it was from that point on, I forever would notice them. My work moving forward would be to stop plastic pollution and to enlist others to join me.

Now, in the predawn darkness, I walked to the ocean’s edge, my feet sinking lightly into the damp sand. I noticed white flecks in front of me reflecting the minimal amount of light as the sun rays made their first appearance behind the Mokulua Islands. As the sun continued to rise, the bright white plastics were joined by a previously invisible rainbow of darker blues, greens, greys and blacks. The situation on Kailua Beach that morning was becoming apparent: we were experiencing the worst migration of microplastic we'd ever seen.

The Hawaiian Islands serve as combs that capture this debris, with the islands sitting stationary in the ever-moving cauldron of the world's largest ocean. In ancient times, Hawaiians would beachcomb to find giant logs that had washed out to sea from the Pacific Northwest in order to build voyaging canoes. Nowadays, those logs still wash up but only very rarely. Instead, they have been replaced with the daily arrival of plastic pollution.

With the sun now fully out and the crew starting to show up, we devised a plan to remove a mound of plastic at the beach access entry point – piled up in a safe spot through days of community work removing the microplastic from the wrack line (the high tide line where debris concentrates).

Our prototype plastic sifter is a community led approach to deal with the onslaught of tiny microplastic pieces invading our coastlines. It's a start, but there's a better way. Parley is focused on dealing with plastic pollution at the source, but we are ready to also support communities on the ground to improve and increase the use of these inventive solutions. To deal with so much plastic, one crew would manage the sand sifting prototype and the others would get into the water to remove the concentrated microplastic influxes as they came ashore.

Four hours later, we had completely processed the microplastic hill and filled four new wheelbarrows of clean microplastic directly from the water. The challenging part of this work is that the sense of accomplishment is always matched by a sense of defeat. Our sand sifter was only able to remove plastics bigger than 1/8" which meant the smaller microplastics went right through our screens. As we cleaned, more microplastic continued to wash ashore, and sadly, after almost 10 years in this mission of awareness raising, this was the dirtiest I'd ever seen my beach.

So you ask, how do we continue without giving up?

In those same ten years we've seen laws around the world to address plastic pollution. Hawaii just passed the most restrictive single use plastic law in the country. Our youth are being educated about the issue and are taking a stand against plastic pollution. Cleanup turnouts are getting larger every year. The awareness is there, the action is being taken, laws are falling into place, but due to Hawaii's geographical location as the most remote archipelago in the world sitting in the ocean where the vast majority of plastic pollution enters, we will continue to see dirty beaches for decades to come.

It won't be until we all stop using so much plastic, manage our waste properly, realize that recycling plastic won't save us, and get out to clean what's left will we finally see clean beaches like I remember as a youth. We removed 5,000 pounds of microplastic that day. That same microplastic would have continued to plague our sea life, ocean and beaches if left alone. Please join us at one of the many cleanups we are hosting around the world and do your part by using less plastic, know where your food comes from, vote for candidates that truly care for our environment, and support businesses that practice a triple bottom line.

We can't afford to give up. I know I won't.