A beach on a remote island, and home to nesting turtles, is annually overwhelmed by tonnes of plastic garbage. Christmas Island is doing what it can to help stem the never-ending tide of pollution.

Christmas Island’s Greta Beach should be one of Australia’s most prized stretches of sand and a haven for nesting green sea turtles.

Instead, it is silently choking on a tsunami of plastic waste.

during the dry season, and especially from the beginning of June to the end of August, Indian Ocean currents bury the beach under tonnes of plastic.

Greta Beach is a vital nesting ground for green sea turtles, which have only recently been taken off the global endangered list.

It is one of the few locations where they can lay eggs year-round.

Increasingly, however, the waste smothering this beach makes nesting difficult, according to Lin Gaff, who has been volunteering with Island Care for 25 years.

The female turtles struggle over an obstacle course of sharp plastic, nylon ropes, discarded shoes, bottles, and styrofoam remnants.