THE billions of small plastic pellets known as nurdles that have washed up on Durban beaches have now made their way into the Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve. The tiny pellets of plastic, known as nurdles – are the raw material used in the manufacture of plastic products.
Reserve manager and KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife officer, Basil Pather, said while the issue wasn’t as large as the one facing Durban’s coastline, it had affected the reserve.
“We have noticed a few nurdles that have come over the litter booms across the reserve. It is also dependent on the weather and the tide. At the moment we are trying to collect them to properly dispense of them. It’s not on the scale however as the problem facing the Durban coastline.
Pather called the spillage an ‘ecological disaster’.
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“They are harmful in their entirety. The bad news is that these plastic pellets or nurdles absorb pollutants such as PCBs and organochlorine pesticides which are extremely harmful to both marine life and humans if consumed,” he said.
The toxic nurdles have been spotted as far north as Alkantstrand and Umlalazi.
According to Douw Steyn of director of sustainability at Plastics SA, the trouble began when a container vessel collided with another vessel in the Port of Durban causing bags of the nurdles to fall out of a damaged shipping container.
He added the issue has been referred to the Department of Environmental Affairs.
Ann Kunz of the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) urged residents collecting nurdles to visit www.coastkzn.co.za or email coastkzn@gmail.com.
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