City urges residents to help with nurdle pollution clean-up
27 October 2020
Over the past two weeks, the City of Cape Town’s Environment Management Department has detected a sudden increase of nurdles at beaches around the Cape Metropole. Nurdles are very small pellets of plastic used as raw material in the manufacture of plastic products.
The City, in collaboration with stakeholders from The Beach Co-op, Shark Spotters, Two Ocean Aquarium, South African National Parks, and other conservation organisations, is busy with a huge clean-up effort to remove nurdles from our pristine marine environment.
Many residents are already part of this effort.
‘I want to thank those who are assisting by collecting the nurdles from the beaches, this is a mark of active citizenship. I also want to encourage more to join. The more nurdles collected, the safer our beaches. Also, every nurdle collected helps protect our fragile marine ecosystem. Nurdles never disappear or disintegrate, they just break down into smaller pieces and can be harmful to animals which mistake them for food. If swallowed by marine species they can cause blockages, starvation and death,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Marian Nieuwoudt.
With large amounts of nurdles being reported on beaches across the Southern Cape and Cape Town coastline, Plastics SA is investigating the possibility that the nurdle spill is from a vessel that lost cargo off the coast of Plettenberg Bay.
Members of the public can visit their local beaches to take part in the clean-up operations.
Affected beaches include the following:
Glencairn
Fish Hoek,
Kommetjie
Millers Point
Muizenberg
Scarborough.
In the Cape Point reserve, the following beaches have been affected:
Bortjies
Bufflels
Dias and
Platboom
‘We urge everyone who can to participate in the clean-up, especially families going to beaches during the school holidays. This is an ideal opportunity to combine our efforts,’ said Alderman Nieuwoudt.
To participate, please make sure to:
take a bucket with you to the beach
place sea water into the bucket
collect handfuls of nurdles and place in the bucket of sea water – the nurdles will float to the top
scoop the nurdles off the top with your hands or a sieve, and place in another container
label your container with the date and the beach you collected it from
The nurdles can be dropped off at the closest collection point:
Muizenberg – Shark Spotters Info Centre at Surfers Corner
Fish Hoek – the Shark Spotters’ cabin on the beachfront
Kommetjie Surf Shop – Unit 3, Swan Lodge, Kommetjie
Alternatively, people can contact Pristine Earth Collective through their website to arrange the collection or delivery of the nurdles. Once collected, the nurdles will be taken to a plant in Blackheath where they will be transformed into building materials, ensuring that they enter the plastic production and recycling chain instead of going straight to landfill.
We expect nurdles to keep coming ashore especially after strong onshore winds.
For more information:
Shark Spotters - Sarah Waries – 0781744244 – sarah@sharkspotters.org.za
The Beach CoOp - 0731509602 - Aaniyah Omardien - infothebeachcoop@gmail.com
Pristine Earth Collective - George Van De Schyff - george@pristineearthcollective.com
HELP UP NPC - Georgia McTaggart georgia@helpuptoday.co.za
Plastics SA - Environmental Officer: John Keiser john.keiser@plasticssa.co.za
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
