Burnt Pellets Complicate Impact of Plastic Spill, Study Finds

There was little relief from the scorching sun on the beach, but the volunteers kept at their work, scouring the sand for small plastic pellets known as nurdles.

The nurdles, the basic building blocks for all kinds of plastic items, have fouled a massive arc of coastline along Sri Lanka’s south and west after they fell off the stricken X-Press Pearl cargo ship when it caught fire and sank in May. On the beach, these white pellets have been mixed with darker, natural-looking detritus. The cleanup volunteers initially ignored the latter, but a closer look revealed that these were, in fact, burnt nurdles.

To read full story visit: https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/burnt-pellets-complicate-impact-of-plastic-spill-off-sri-lanka-study-finds/