The plastic pellets causing havoc
I had not heard of the word ‘Nurdles’ till a couple of months ago. If you’ve been watching the news, you may recall the explosion of a cargo vessel ‘The X-Press Pearl’ in May, just off the Western Coast of Sri Lanka. This has caused catastrophic environmental impacts, with consequences that are immediate and expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
Many of the containers carrying nitric acid (used for manufacturing fertilisers as well as explosives), other chemicals and cosmetics had already tumbled into the sea. Amongst them were three containers with millions of plastic pellets, known as ‘Nurdles’ that have now carpeted the Western Coastline of Negambo, Sri Lanka. Live updates are on global news channels including Oceanswell.org.
The cleanup is a mammoth and seemingly a never ending task as these nurdles keep washing up on the shores as each wave hits the sand, along with the burnt pellets from the fire that are proving harder to clean up as they are easily camouflaged amongst the debris. Experts have said the pellets remaining in the sea could reach as far as India, Indonesia and Somalia.
This is personal to me, as I grew up in Colombo, not far from this devastation, and I’m sorry to say that till this incident occurred I was oblivious to the existence of nurdles and have taken our pristine beaches for granted.
What are Nurdles?
These are tiny plastic pellets about the size and shape of a lentil (3–5mm), and they are the building blocks that are used widely to make many, if not all the plastic products we use on a daily basis. Think of your plastic bag you use when you go shopping, the plastic bottles you pop into the recycling box.
Nurdles have plagued the global coastlines and water bodies for a good few decades. This is being monitored by Fidra with the assistance from volunteers around the world. More than five thousand Nurdle hunts have been completed so far.
Why are they a problem?
They are not biodegradable. Well, they take about hundreds of thousands of years to degrade (so not in our lifetime) and millions get displaced during transportation.
In addition to this their size, opaque colour and texture resemble fish eggs, which many animals would ingest believing this to be a food source and either die (as the pellets make them feel full so they stop eating) or pass this up the food chain, loosely translated, that’s straight into your belly.
And no, this is not a genius idea for a new fad diet!
These pellets can absorb chemicals over time, which causes further harm to animals that would ingest this.
The nurdles can also have impact on the ecosystem, as they accumulate on the beach and change the characteristic of sand, its temperature and permeability. This is detrimental to animals such as sea turtles that lay their eggs on tropical beaches, and the temperature has a significant input on the gender of the newborn.
Think also of the impact on the livelihoods of the people, for the fishermen who make their daily wage with the oceans, the tourism industry that banks on the pristine beaches that everyone dreams of walking on barefoot.
What can we do as individuals?
There is a much larger conversation ongoing within the industry and their supply chain to reduce pellet loss during transportation and manufacture.
Is there a collective change of behaviour we can implement individually as consumers to reduce the production of plastics in the first place and in turn nurdles? Has consumerism made us complacent and desensitised to the impacts our choices have on the environment? Or can we rise to the challenge, consciously make necessary changes with an awareness that becomes embedded in us and our children’s daily lives?
Think about it for a minute. What could we do simplistically?
Consciously reduce the plastic products we buy, to reduce the demand. It’s hard, trust me I know! I’m looking very critically at myself at the moment too! There are some simple pointers given by Greenpeace and Ibedrola.
For a fun filled hands on approach, when you go down to the beach or riverfront, perhaps keep your eye out for ‘Nurdles’, maybe even join in the ‘Nurdle Hunt’ with your family — make it educational and keep the rugrats entertained for hours! Two birds, one nurdle!