How the small Pacific island nation of Vanuatu drastically cut plastic pollution

A local chief from the island of Erakor remembers that plastic would form a small island inside the lagoon. Photograph: @ Didier Marti/Getty Images

For generations, the people of Erakor village in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu would pass their time swimming in the local lagoon. Ken Andrew, a local chief, remembers diving in its depths when he was a child, chasing the fish that spawned in its turquoise waters.

That was decades ago. Now 52, Andrew has noticed a more pernicious entity invading the lagoon: plastic.