Cape Town – South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) has said the nurdles recovered following the recent spill should not be recycled until a reconciliation has been completed.
The organisation said the cleaning up of nurdles is continuing along the coast in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces, after they had been washing up at various beaches since early October.
Samsa said that this incident of nurdle pollution is being investigated, and that further updates on the outcomes of this investigation will be communicated in due course.
Nurdles are very small pellets of plastic used as raw material in the manufacture of plastic products.
In the meantime Spill Tech has been appointed to assist in the nurdle clean-up operations by P&I Associates (Pty) LTD.
Spill Tech is also conducting inspections of nurdle sightings along the coast and storing all collected nurdles until a waste management decision has been agreed upon by authorities and P&I Associates.
“Nurdles collected should not be recycled until a reconciliation has been completed.
“Spill Tech is currently deployed along various identified hotspot locations from False Bay Eastwards towards Plettenberg Bay.”
Samsa has also issued a nurdles density heat map graphic for more information on hot spots.
“The public and coastal landowners are encouraged to assist with the clean-up operations and allow access to the Spill Tech team for further nurdle inspections and clean-up operations.
“Clean-up operations conducted by Spill Tech commenced on 4 November and, since that time, manual gathering of individual nurdles from beaches has recovered 4351.2kg of nurdles to date,” Samsa said.
“A number of municipalities and members of the public, through NGOs and volunteer groups, have also been conducting nurdle clean-up campaigns in the affected areas. Their efforts are greatly acknowledged, appreciated and encouraged.”
Samsa has called on authorities to work more closely with NGOs to maximise clean-up efforts.
“It is important to note that during a previous nurdle spill incident, caused by a storm event, that took place in Durban in 2017, approximately 70% of the nurdles that were lost at sea were recovered through clean-up operations.”
Spill Tech will be assisting in the collection and drop-off of all nurdles and associated packaging at a number of collection points.
* Further information on collection points and arrangements for pick-up of nurdles can be obtained through the Spill Tech’s 24/7 contact number 063 404 2128.
Cape Argus