News: Several bags of tiny plastic pellets (nurdles) from the Liberian container ship that sank off the Kochi coast, were washed ashore. Plastic pellets (nurdles)
About Plastic pellets (nurdles)
- Definition: The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) defines pellets in ISO 472:2013 as “small pre-formed masses of moulding material that have relatively uniform dimensions within a specific batch”.
- These pellets are utilised as raw material in moulding and extrusion operations.
- When in the form of microplastics, these pellets are commonly referred to as ‘nurdles’.
- They are mainly composed of polyethene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyvinyl chloride.
- However, they can also be made from various other types of plastics and synthetic resins.
- Sources of plastic pellet pollution: Leak from various sources, including production facilities, transportation, storage, and recycling activities. (They are not the result of littering by citizens.)
- Challenges
- Cleaning up pellets is tougher than regular beach clean-up due to their small size.
- Their short- and long-term impacts include habitat contamination and their breaking up into micro and nano plastics and entering the food chain.
- They resemble fish eggs, making them attractive to marine animals. Once ingested, they can cause internal blockages, poisoning, and even death in marine creatures like turtles, dolphins, and seabirds.
