By: Presha Soogrim
Most Durbanites will remember the nurdle spill which occurred in the Durban Harbour during the unprecedented October 2017 storm. Specialised clean up teams, environmental groups and 1000’s of individual citizens worked together and removed an estimated 76% of the 2 billion nurdles that were released into the sea that fateful day.
However there is still so much still to be done.
It is estimated that around 230 000 tons of nurdles are released into the environment each year. Without the continued efforts of civilians from all around the world, the number of nurdles entering the marine environment will continue to escalate.
Community based nurdle clean-ups are taking place worldwide during October 2021. The data from these clean-ups will form part of the global nurdle pollution picture which, it is hoped, will influence legislations governing the transport, process and disposal of nurdles.
You can take part in the Great Global Nurdle clean-up by heading down to your local beach, collecting nurdles and submitting your data to the Great Global Nurdle Hunt website. You will need to record how many nurdles you collected, where you found them, how many people were in your group and how long you spent collecting the nurdles.
In KZN you can drop your nurdles off at either the Scottburgh Surf Lifesaving Club, Pirates Surf Lifesaving Club or Umtamvuna Surf Lifesaving Club.
SAAMBR staff will be taking part in a nurdle cleanup on Saturday 23rd October.
