Why are nurdles a problem?

The world has woken up to the threats posed by plastic-especially the single-use ones – to the environment and marine life in particular. In the recent decades, scientists have also come to recognise the dangers of microplastics, which are extremely small pieces of plastic debris resulting from the breakdown of plastic products. Now, they have sounded alarm over another tiny, yet hazardous plastic items called nurdles. Depending on their density, nurdles can either float to the surface of the water or sink below the surface. In either case, they are a threat to animals and birds.

What are nurdles?

Nurdles are lentil-sized plastic pellets used as raw material for most of today’s plastic products. Made of plastics including polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polystyrene, the pellets are transported to factories around the globe where they are melted down and used to I create plastic bags, kitchenware, bottles, and more. Through leaks, spills, and other storage or transportation errors, nurdles end up in the environment, eventually making their way to the ocean. When the X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean in May 2021. 87 containers full of lentil-sized plastic pellets aboard were accidentally spilled into the ocean.

Since the disaster, nurdles have been washing up in their billions along hundreds of miles of Sri Lanka’s coastline, according to reports.

Why nurdles are a concern

According to The Guardian, 250,000 tonnes of the pellets end up in oceans each year. Because of their size and colour, nurdles look a lot like fish eggs, which makes them particularly appealing to seabirds, and other marine animals. Accidental ingestion of nurdles can cause ulcerations, starvation and eventually deaths in marine animals. Further, nurdles absorb toxins and harmful chemicals like persistent organic pollutants (POP) found in the air, and water. POP come from pesticides, toxins and other harmful chemicals. After nurdles absorb these toxic chemicals, they are eaten by fish and get passed on in the food chain. The toxin may eventually end up on our plates.

Picture Credit : Google

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