Plastic particle water pollution

A handful of nurdles, spilled from a train in Pineville, Louisiana in the United States

Plastic particle water pollution is marine debris consisting of plastic particles, including nurdles, pre-production microplastic resin pellets typically under 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter found outside of the typical plastic manufacturing stream and an intermediate good used to produce plastic final products;[1] microbeads from cosmetics; and the breakdown products of plastic litter. Plastic particle water pollution has also been referred to as mermaids' tears.[2]

Description

Approximately 60 billion pounds (27 million tonnes) of nurdles are manufactured annually in the United States.[3] One pound of pelletized HDPE contains approximately 25,000 nurdles (approximately 20 mg per nurdle).

Environmental impact

Nurdles on a beach in southwest France, in 2011

Nurdles are a major contributor to marine debris. During a three-month study of Orange County beaches researchers found them to be the most common beach contaminant.[4] Nurdles comprised roughly 98% of the beach debris collected in a 2001 Orange County study.[5] Waterborne nurdles may either be a raw material of plastic production, or from larger chunks of plastics.[6] A major concentration of plastic may be the Great Pacific garbage patch, a growing collection of marine debris known for its high concentrations of plastic litter.

Nurdles that escape from the plastic production process into waterways or oceans have become a significant source of ocean and beach plastic pollution. Marine life is severely threatened by these small pieces of plastic: the creatures that make up the base of the marine food chain, such as krill, are prematurely dying by choking on nurdles.[7] Nurdles have frequently been found in the digestive tracts of various marine creatures, causing physiological damage by leaching plasticizers such as phthalates. Nurdles can carry two types of micropollutants in the marine environment: native plastic additives and hydrophobic pollutants absorbed from seawater. For example, concentrations of PCBs and DDE on nurdles collected from Japanese coastal waters were found to be up to 1 million times higher than the levels detected in surrounding seawater.[8]

Plastic microbeads used in cosmetic exfoliating products are also found in water.

Incidents

In Hong Kong, after being blown by Typhoon Vicente on 24 July 2012, some containers belonging to Chinese oil giant Sinopec which were carrying over 150 tonnes of plastic pellets were blown into the sea, washing up on southern Hong Kong coasts, such as Shek O, Cheung Chau, Ma Wan and Lamma Island. The spill disrupted marine life and is being credited with killing stocks of fish on fish farms.[9]

Actions for creating awareness

On April 11, 2013 in order to create awareness, artist Maria Cristina Finucci founded The Garbage Patch State at UNESCO[10] –Paris in front of Director General Irina Bokova . First of a series of events under the patronage of UNESCO and of Italian Ministry of the Environment.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "What's a nurdle?". 7 November 2006. Archived from the original on 2009-12-21. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  2. ↑ Ayre, Maggie (7 December 2006). "Plastics 'poisoning world's seas'". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  3. ↑ "Heal the Bay - The Pacific Protection Initiative - AB 258: Nurdles". 20 April 2008.
  4. ↑ Moore, Charles (2002). "A comparison of neustonic plastic and zooplankton abundance in southern California's coastal waters and elsewhere in the North Pacific". Algalita Marine Research Foundation.
  5. ↑ "Adopted Marine Debris Resolution"
  6. ↑ Ayre, Maggie (7 December 2006). "Plastics 'poisoning world's seas'". BBC Online. BBC News.
  7. ↑ Weisman, Alan (July 10, 2007). "9". The World Without Us. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-312-34729-1.
  8. ↑ Mato Y: "Plastic resin pellets as a transport medium for toxic chemicals in the marine environment", "Environmental Science & Technology" 35(2), pages 318–324, 2001
  9. ↑ "Sinopec pledges help to clear Hong Kong plastic spill". 9 August 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  10. ↑ "The garbage patch territory turns into a new state - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". unesco.org.
  11. ↑ http://www.rivistasitiunesco.it/articolo.php?id_articolo=2073

Further reading

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