PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Plett Tourism has introduced a social media challenge urging beachgoers to pick up as many nurdles as possible in two minutes.
Last week, members of the tourism entity headed down to the beach to kick off the challenge and practise what they preach, and team member Brendon Morris alone managed to collect 93 nurdles in the time frame.
Plett Tourism acting chief executive Patty Butterworth said the motivation behind the initiative is to show that it does not need to be a mammoth task to make a difference. "Don't let our future go to waste. Even two minutes can make a world of difference to our beaches," Butterworth said.
Nurdles are small plastic pellets used in the manufacturing of plastic products. They started washing out on South African beaches after a massive nurdle spill in the Durban harbour in October 2017 when a shipping container was knocked overboard in a collision with another vessel during a storm. About 49 tonnes landed in the ocean. It is believed that only 10% of these nurdles have so far been recovered.
Scientists have expressed growing concern over nurdles as it not only concentrates and attracts background pollutants, but also never breaks down completely 0- only fragmenting into smaller plastic particles. Furthermore, they are mistaken for food by marine animals and end up in their diets. Not only are they toxic, but cause digestive blockages, starvation and death.
Butterworth invited locals and visitors to video or photograph themselves collecting the nurdles and share it on social media to encourage others to do the same. "Let us know how many you collected in your two minutes."
Participants are also urged to tag their videos and photos with the #2munitenurdles hashtag along with @pletttourism on Facebook.
The nurdles can be dropped off at the Plett tourism office in town from where they will be disposed of in the required manner.
In the meantime, the conservation entity Nature's Valley Trust has organised a nurdle clean-up on Robberg 5 beach at 15:30 on Friday 13 November.
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