Another hurdle in the fight to curb nurdles

Tiny plastic pellets the size of lentils are again washing up on beaches in the Mossel Bay area, the municipality warned on Monday. 

Nurdles are plastic pellets used in the manufacturing of products such as plastic bottles and packaging materials. 

These tiny balls of doom, only weighing 20 milligrams, pose a significant danger to marine life, as they are often mistaken for food and ingested. As a result, the animals starve to death. 

The Mossel Bay municipality has urged residents and beachgoers to remove as many nurdles as possible, and to dispose of them responsibly. Throwing hurdles away in normal household waste conditions could harm animals scavenging for food at landfill sites. 

This can be done by contacting the nearest conservancy or stranded marine animal rescue team, to dispose of the hurdles safely. 

Alternatively, nurdles can be dropped in a special bin at Spar De Dekke in Great Brak River, or in bins at beach ablution facilities, where they will be disposed of correctly. 

Nurdles are notorious for being easily spread, across the world’s oceans. 

The Strandloper Project posted on social media on Sunday that nurdles are awash in the Plettenberg Area too. 

Dyer Island Conservation revealed in a Facebook post recently that nurdle spills in South Africa can end up as far as Australia. 

They explained that in 2017, a storm in Durban caused a hurdle-filled 25 tonne container to spill into the ocean. The hurdles quickly made their way to Gansbaai. 

Shortly afterwards, in 2018, the nurdles washed up on the coast of Western Australia. 

“I thank our community for being concerned about the environment and for taking the time to remove these nurdles from our beaches, said acting mayor, Alderman Dirk Kotzé.

“I appreciate the painstakingly hard work entailed in removing the nurdles. Your dedicated effort is what makes Mossel Bay great.”

(Compiled by Nica Richards)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.