May 2026 saw our friends at Sustainable Coastlines partner on a unique and exciting project with eXXpedition, the first-ever global study to map plastic pollution from sea to source. eXXpedition has ten research sailing missions (including the Arctic, Antarctica and the North Pacific) planned as part of an advanced scientific programme in partnership with the University of Georgia.

At the time of writing, eXXpedition’s South Pacific voyage from Auckland to Tonga is underway. The crew stopped at Aotea / Great Barrier Island on 1 May to conduct a clean-up alongside Sustainable Coastlines. We spoke to Emily Penn, founder of eXXpedition and Sam Judd, founder of Sustainable Coastlines, about the beach clean-up and the need to change behaviours that pollute our oceans and islands.
 

Channel Mag: Can you give us a basic understanding of the size of the plastic pollution problem in our oceans and how that affects all of us?

Emily Penn: Plastic pollution is everywhere. It’s reached the furthest corners of our ocean and even deep inside our own bodies, yet it remains so often out of sight. Today, there are an estimated 171 trillion plastic particles floating in our ocean – a staggering increase from just a decade ago. Because plastic is a material designed to last forever, it doesn't disappear; it simply fragments into a "soup" of microplastics that are ingested by marine life and carry toxic chemicals into the food chain. This isn't just an environmental crisis; it’s a human health crisis. My own journey with eXXpedition was catalysed by a personal discovery: I tested my blood for 35 toxic chemicals associated with plastic and found 29 of them inside me. These chemicals are often endocrine disruptors that can impact fertility and be passed on to future generations.

Is plastic also interfering with the ocean’s ability to function as a carbon sink?

Absolutely. The ocean is our planet's largest carbon sink, and plastic is a direct threat to its ability to regulate our climate. Beyond the visible damage to ecosystems like mangroves, microplastics affect the metabolism of zooplankton– the tiny engines of the ocean’s carbon cycle. As we continue to produce plastic at an accelerating rate, we risk compromising the very systems that keep our planet habitable. To protect our climate, we must address the flow of plastic at the source.

What is this 'Great Pacific garbage patch', and are we likely to see it grow?

There’s a common misconception that the Great Pacific garbage patch is a floating island of trash you could walk on. Having sailed through it during our 2018 mission, I can tell you the reality is much more insidious – it’s a 'plastic soup'. It’s one of five major oceanic gyres where currents cause plastic fragments to accumulate in high concentrations. While technological clean-up efforts are vital, they only address the symptoms. If we don’t stop the leak at the source, these accumulation zones will continue to grow. Our focus is on making this 'unseen' soup visible so we can drive the upstream solutions that prevent it from forming in the first place.

What will you be studying and testing while on board?

We are moving beyond just counting plastic to truly mapping its flow – into, through, and out of communities. At sea, our crews collect plastic from surface water samples and use state-of-the-art equipment, like the Spectrum Two FT-IR spectrometer, to identify polymer types. Since every polymer has a unique chemical fingerprint, we can trace ocean fragments back to their original sources on land. On land, we complete the picture by conducting investigations into local waste management and the specific consumer products on shop shelves. By combining this sea-to-source data, we can provide decision-makers with the evidence they need to implement the most impactful, localised solutions.

The South Pacific voyage is a major milestone for us. It’s an area where eXXpedition hasn't sailed in our 12-year history, allowing us to fill critical data gaps in some of the world’s most remote waters. But more importantly, it allows us to connect with new communities and local experts, like Sustainable Coastlines, to build a collaborative understanding of the problem. 

Does the team on board need to have sailing skills?

Not at all! In fact, we look for a crew that is as diverse as the solutions required. Many of them have never stepped foot on a sailboat before. We have a professional crew to show them the ropes; what we need from our participants is their unique 'superpower' – their professional skills and their willingness to use their eXXpedition experience to create a ripple effect back on land. We also use these all-women voyages to shine a light on the underrepresentation of women in STEM and exploration.

Our crew is all women because our mission is to 'make the unseen seen', and for a long time, the impact of plastic and toxic chemicals on female health was one of those unseens. We want to celebrate women in science and sailing — areas where they have historically been unacknowledged – and prove that when we bring our collective skills to the table, we are an unstoppable force for change.

Why does a sparsely populated island like Aotea / Great Barrier Island need a clean-up?

Sam Judd: Because rubbish pours out of Te Moananui-ā-Toi / the Hauraki Gulf, on a regular basis from the stormwater system, and Aotea Great Barrier Island is in the direct firing line of the prevailing (southwesterly) winds. When we launched Sustainable Coastlines in New Zealand in 2009, we had a huge cleanup on Aotea / Great Barrier Island, removing 2.8 tonnes of rubbish. We went back a year later and removed 3.1 tonnes. After that, we decided that we needed to focus on trying to stop the flow by building a fence at the top of the cliff, rather than being the ambulance at the bottom. This came through delivering education programmes, with the support of partners like Benefitz.

How did the beach clean-up with eXXpedition go, and what can we learn from it? 

Sam: We selected Katherine Bay for the clean-up due to its location on the island's west coast (Auckland-facing side), where rubbish accumulates more frequently than on the east coast. A variety of waste materials were collected, including plastic, wood, metal, rubber and fabrics. In total, 749 litter items were removed from the beach within a 10 x 100m transect area. Plastic made up the majority of the debris collected. 

Emily: By analysing the plastic we find, we can trace its trajectory back to the city or industry it came from. It proves that no island is an island when it comes to plastic; our waste management choices on the mainland have a direct impact on the most pristine parts of our planet.

Sam: We also found a lot of treated timber. Most of our timber is treated with CCA, which is Copper Chrome Arsenic — the most arcane and polluting preservation system in the world. The arsenic is obviously the problem. It is one of the most problematic waste streams facing New Zealand, because it is heavily toxic.

What can our readers do in their everyday lives to better protect our oceans from plastic pollution?

Sam: Kiwis are the eleventh worst in the world in terms of how much material we consume per capita. If we didn’t have a lot of space for a small population, this place would be a rubbish dump based on our behaviour. Recycling doesn’t get rid of the pollution problem; recycling is the last option before landfill. It will not save the world. We must focus on reducing consumption. 

Emily: It’s a global problem with no 'silver bullet' fix, which is why we need a diverse, multidisciplinary approach to tackle it from every angle. The most important thing to realise is that you don't have to do everything, but everyone has to do something. I always tell people to find their 'superpower'. If you’re a designer, how can you rethink packaging? If you’re a parent, how can you influence your school? If you’re a communicator, how can you tell the story? We need thousands of solutions driven by millions of people. You can start by using tools like the SHiFT platform we have developed. On the SHiFT platform, exxpedition.com/shift-method/ users can select how, in what aspect of life, and where they want to create a shift in the pollution problem from sea to source. It might be a simple consumer swap at home or advocating for policy change in your workplace. We all have a role to play; it’s just a matter of finding yours.

Want to make a difference in the fight against plastic?

You can follow eXXpedition's sailing mission on all the social media platforms, just look for @eXXpedition. If you're interested in joining them on one of their upcoming sailing missions, you can head to exxpedition.com/apply/

Another way you can make a difference is by supporting Sustainable Coastlines. Sustainable Coastlines also provides education to schools, trains and equips volunteers, and runs a citizen data-gathering project called Litter Intelligence, which won an Energy Globe Award in 2024. They have a wide range of long-term supporters, both corporate and individuals, including Benefitz, the publishers of Channel Magazine. Your organisation or business could consider making a donation or partnering with Sustainable Coastlines on a longer-term project. Contact them at info@sustainablecoastlines.org. Or donate at love.sustainablecoastlines.org/donate.