Three years ago during a freak storm, two container ships collided in Durban harbour, resulting in 2.2 billion plastic pellets, commonly known as nurdles, being spilled.
These spread rapidly all along the KZN coastline.
The tiny pellets, which are around 5mm in diameter, are the pre-production building blocks for nearly all plastic goods and are a major contributor to marine debris.
They washed up on a number of beaches from Ballito all the way down to the South Coast.
Only 10 percent of the spilled nurdles were retrieved.
Another more recent spill occurred off the coast of Plettenburg Bay, increasing the number of nurdles in South African waters.
Former Durbanite, Clare Swithenbank-Bowman is doing her share to eradicate the nurdles from the beaches and would like to get more South Africans on board through her NPO, Litter4Tokens.
“At this rate, reports indicate that there will be more waste plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050,” said Clare.
“Therefore we ask everyone to get involved to change the trajectory of this devastating path.”
Litter4Tokens is an innovative recycling solution started in 2015, whereby bags of recyclable material are exchanged for tokens valued at R5 each.
These can then be redeemed for dry goods in token shops at numerous Litter4Tokens outlets across the country.
“This organisation targets the dual challenge of pollution and hunger simultaneously,” explained Clare.
Since its launch, more than 528 000 bags of litter have been prevented from reaching the oceans, and more than 156 000 people in remote South African communities have been fed.
In order to rid beaches of nurdles, Litter4Tokens has several beach clean up tools designed and up for sale for all interested ocean clean-up activists.
All proceeds from the sale of these tools goes to Litter4Tokens, thereby keeping the outlets viable and preventing more pollution of the oceans.
People can also contribute to research on the impact of microplastics on the marine environment by recording nurdle collection results via the website, www.litter4tokens.co.za.
“It’s important for all South Africans, especially those on the coast, to help us remove nurdles from beaches because these microplastics are hugely detrimental to humans, as well as marine ecosystems, quickly finding their way into the food system where they can cause ulceration, starvation and death,” said Clare.
“We’re particularly concerned as it’s been discovered that these nurdles follow the same ocean currents as turtles and many fish and other filter-feeding marine creatures mistake them for eggs and miniature jellyfish.”
Clare encourages everyone to become part of the solution and to visit the website to find out how to become involved.
“The ocean is the earth’s life force, and if we don’t get on top of this plastic crisis now, the ocean is literally going to choke. It’s now or never,” she said.
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