PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Plettenberg Bay residents have been urged to collect as many “nurdles” as possible, after stormy seas brought these plastic pellets to shore.
Nurdles are small plastic pellets used in the manufacturing of plastic products and started appearing on South African beaches after a massive nurdle spill in the Durban Harbour in October 2017.
The spill occurred as a result of a Mediterranean Shipping Company container being knocked overboard in a collision with another vessel during a storm. About 49 tonnes landed in the ocean.
Scientists have expressed growing concern over nurdles as it not only concentrates and attracts background pollutants, but also never breaks down completely – only fragmenting into smaller plastic particles.
Furthermore, nurdles are also mistaken for food by marine animals and end up in their diets. Not only are they toxic, but they cannot be digested, causing digestive blockages, starvation and death.
Plettenberg Bay-based conservation organisation, the Nature’s Valley Trust, (NVT) is urging beachgoers to collect the nurdles when they come across them. Not only will the pellets be disposed of safely, but assist in the organisation’s related research.
NVT conservation ecologist Brittany Arendse explained that the recent nurdle wash-up was not a new phenomenon, but that the plastic pellets made it to shore following severe storms. This started happening after the Durban nurdle spill.
She added that so far less than 10% of all the nurdles that ended up in the ocean have been retrieved.
Members of the Strandloper Project marine environmental initiative, currently on their annual expedition, said the wash-up of nurdles on Plett’s beaches is “overwhelming”. They conducted a density study which indicated 329 nurdles per 35cm2 with a maximum of 1 587.
Arendse urged beachgoers to place the collected nurdles in separate containers and to indicate on the containers from which beaches the plastic pellets were collected. These can be dropped off at either the NVT offices – at Lion Roars House off Longships Drive and in Nature’s Valley. The Plett Tourism office in the town centre has also been designated as a drop-off point.
Related article: Hurdles in the fight to curb nurdles
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