Beyond Plastic

Piles of plastic pellets found in Charleston tidal marsh

5,707 pre-industrial plastic pellets collected in recent cleanup in South Carolina.

Four hands are gather in a circle all with plastic pellets in the palm of the hand in a marsh
Katie Abare, Charleston Surfrider | Used by permission
Plastic pellets found in Charleston marsh

On Saturday, PIRG partnered with the Charleston Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation to hold a plastic pellet and tidal marsh clean-up and found 5,707 plastic pellets, sometimes called “nurdles,” within the tidal marsh adjacent to the historic old town. We held a plastic pellet clean-up for World Migratory Bird day last May at the same location and found 1,133 plastic pellets. Both events were held for the same amount of time and had roughly the same amount of volunteers. This is a significant increase in pellets in this area and clearly shows that plastic pellet pollution continues to threaten waterways in South Carolina.

Charleston, South Carolina has become the second-largest port in the United States for international plastic exportation. Additionally, resins, which include plastic pellets, are now Charleston’s largest export commodity. Plastic pellets are intentionally made as microplastics to be later melted and molded into everyday plastic products, from single-use water bottles to vinyl records. They function as the building blocks of plastic manufacturing.

It is estimated that 10 trillion plastic pellets litter our oceans in a year. Once in the water, plastic pellets can absorb toxic chemicals such as DDT, PCBs, and mercury. These types of pollutants bioaccumulate, meaning they become more concentrated and more toxic as they move up the food chain. 

Birds, fish, turtles and other marine animals sometimes mistake plastic pellets for food, such as fish eggs or tadpoles. A recent study found that 54% of the fulmar birds in the study had plastic pellets in their stomachs. Another study found that when there was an acute spill of plastic pellets in the Gulf of Mexico the amount of pellets found in the stomachs of turtles in the area also increased. 

Plastic pellets have plagued beaches in and around Charleston for several years. In fact, Charleston had the highest concentration of plastic pellet pollution outside the Gulf of Mexico in 2019.

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) represented the Charleston Waterkeeper and the Coastal Conservation League in a settlement against Frontier Logistics, a pellet exporter, in 2021. The company was forced to pay $1.2 million and their facility was forced to relocate. However, as our recent sampling efforts indicate, plastic pellet pollution remains. 

Would you like to get involved with fighting plastic pellet pollution? Go on a nurdle hunt and record the data.

If you are interested in hosting a plastic pellet hunt near you, let’s talk: [email protected].

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