Plastic pellets found on the beach. Getty
This story was originally published by the Guardian and reproduced here as part of the Climate Channel collaboration.
When the X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire in the Indian Ocean in May and sank, Sri Lanka was worried that the ship’s 350 tons of heavy fuel oil would leak into the ocean, causing environmental disasters to the country’s pristine coral reefs and fisheries industries.
It was listed by the United Nations as the "most serious shipwreck in Sri Lanka, and the biggest impact was not caused by heavy oil." Nor are they dangerous chemicals on ships, including nitric acid, caustic soda and methanol. According to the United Nations, the most "significant" injury came from the overflow of 87 containers filled with lentil-sized plastic pellets: nurdles.
Since the disaster, billions of rocks have been washed along hundreds of miles of the country’s coastline and are expected to land on the Indian Ocean coastline from Indonesia and Malaysia to Somalia. In some places, they can reach a depth of up to 2 meters. They were found in the carcass of dead dolphins and the mouth of fish. Approximately 1,680 tons of nudles were released into the ocean. According to a UN report, this is the largest plastic leak in history.
Nurdles is the common name for "pre-produced plastic pellets" and is a lesser-known part of all our plastic products. The tiny beads can be made of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and other plastics. When released into the environment from a plastic factory or shipped as a raw material around the world to the factory, they will sink or float, depending on the density of the particles and whether they are in fresh or salt water.
They are often mistaken for food by seabirds, fish and other wild animals. In the environment, they will fragment into more complex nanoparticles. By weight, they are the second largest source of micro-pollutants in the ocean, second only to tire dust. A staggering 230,000 tons of stone bones eventually flow into the ocean every year.
Like crude oil, nuclear particles are highly persistent pollutants and will continue to circulate in ocean currents and be washed ashore for decades. They are also "toxic sponges" that can attract chemical toxins and other pollutants to their surface.
“The particles themselves are a mixture of chemicals—they are fossil fuels,” said Tom Gammage of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) of the International Sports Organization. "But they are like toxic sponges. Many toxic chemicals-in the case of Sri Lanka, they already exist in water-are hydrophobic [repelling water], so they accumulate on the surface of the microplastics.
"The concentration of pollutants on the surface of particles may be one million times that of water," he said. "And we know from laboratory research that when the fish eats the particles, some of the contaminants will disperse."
A study found that Nurdles also act as a "raft" for harmful bacteria such as E. coli and even cholera, transporting them from sewage outlets and agricultural runoff to bathing water and shellfish beds. The phenomenon of "plastic drifting" is increasing.
However, unlike substances such as kerosene, diesel, and gasoline, nuclear particles are not considered dangerous goods according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) code for safe handling and storage of dangerous goods. Although the threat of plastic particles to the environment has been known for three decades, as detailed in a 1993 report by the US Government Environmental Protection Agency on how the plastics industry can reduce spills.
Environmentalists are now teaming up with the Sri Lankan government to try to turn the X-Press Pearl disaster into a catalyst for change. When the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee met in London this week, Sri Lanka’s call for nuclear waste to be classified as a hazardous material drew public support, and more than 50,000 people signed the petition. "Nothing can stop what happened in Sri Lanka from happening again," Gammage said.
There have been at least two nurdle leaks last year. In the North Sea, a damaged container on the freighter MV Trans Carrier lost 10 tons of pellets, which washed up the coasts of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In South Africa, the August 2020 spill occurred after an accident in 2018, which affected 1,250 miles of coastline. Only 23% of the 49 tons leaked were recovered. In 2019, 342 plastic pellet containers leaked into the North Sea.
People are increasingly aware of the huge threat posed by these tiny particles. Last year, two environmental protesters in the United States were accused of “intimidating” a plastics industry lobbyist under a Louisiana law by leaving a box of pellets outside his house as a way of preventing Taiwan Formosa Plastics from opening a factory in Taiwan. Part of the campaign. Louisiana State.
The pellets came from another Formosa plant in Texas, which leaked large quantities of pellets to Lavaca Bay in the Gulf of Mexico (Formosa agreed to pay $50 million to resolve a lawsuit for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act). The charges against these activists were later revoked 15 years of imprisonment.
Activists say such incidents can be prevented. “The sinking of the X-Press Pearl — and the leakage of chemical products and plastic particles into Sri Lankan waters — caused immeasurable damage to marine life and destroyed local livelihoods,” said Hemantha Withanage, director of the Sri Lanka Environmental Justice Center. Lanka. He said that fish is the main source of protein for 40% of Sri Lankans, and its consumption has been drastically reduced. "This is a huge accident. Unfortunately, there is no guidance from the IMO."
The classification of nuclear particles as dangerous goods—such as explosives, flammable liquids, and other substances that are harmful to the environment—will subject them to strict transportation conditions. “They must be stored under the deck, with stronger packaging and clear labels,” said Tanya Cox, a marine plastics expert at Flora & Fauna International, a conservation charity. "They will also be subject to disaster response agreements, which, if implemented in emergency situations, can prevent the most serious environmental impacts."
But this issue has been shelved, and the IMO Secretariat submitted this issue to the Pollution, Prevention and Response Committee which will meet next year. Activists said that Sri Lanka’s proposal was not properly discussed, which is disappointing. Christina Dixon of the EIA said: “The attitude of the committee members is extraordinary, showing a ruthless disregard for plastic pollution from ships as a threat to coastal communities, ecosystems and food security. This It is simply unacceptable."
At the same time, Sri Lanka's clean-up work continues. Withanage said that of the 470 turtles, 46 dolphins and 8 whales that washed ashore, some had sarcomas in their bodies. Although there is no evidence that these little dolphins caused it, he said: “I have seen some dolphins with plastic particles in them. 20,000 families had to stop fishing.
"The fishermen said that when they dipped [themselves] in the water, the particles would get into their ears. It affected the tourism industry, everything."
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