After hundreds of thousands of nurdles started washing up on the Cape’s coastline beach clean-up organisations and the Pristine Earth Collective mobilised to not only start cleaning up the spill, but also to seek answers from industry and government. It seems that PlasticsSA was already quietly starting to clean up the spill, but timely announcements and notification of the spill to the many organisations that already work tirelessly to clean up our beaches is what was needed.
In this Cape Argus article the need for greater transparency from both industry and government, as well as meaningful change in the way South Africa uses and manages plastics is highlighted by PEC founder George van der Schyff.
Currently, nurdles are washing up on beaches from Port Elizabeth to Blouberg and the true extent of the damage yet remains to be seen. This article from News24 gives a good summary of the issue.
For further reading on the spill see these articles in Times Live, the Daily Maverick, 2Oceans Vibe and Engineering News.
Next time you visit one of the Cape’s beaches, please consider cleaning up some nurdles. See the infographic below for some guidelines on how to go about it.
