This blog was originally based on a course ran by Professor Nick Gray of the Trinity Centre for the Environment at Trinity College Dublin who also wrote a textbook for the module Facing up to global warming: What is going on and what you can do about it. Now working as an independent consultant, Nick continues to work in the area of environmental sustainability and looking at ways of making a difference without recriminations or guilt. Saving the planet is all about living sustainably.


Friday, February 1, 2019

Single plastic filaments pose another pollution problem on beaches



We associate beach litter with large items such as plastic bottles, plastic bags and sheeting netting, but emphasis has been placed on other categories of plastic waste such as nurdles (https://www.nurdlehunt.org.uk/whats-the-problem.html)  and micro-plastics.  However, the other day while walking along the lovely beach at Brittas Bay in County Wicklow (Ireland) I was pleased to see that there was no large litter to be seen along its 2 km length.  There were a few small plastic strips okay but the beach looked lovely and clean.  I even checked  for nurdles…nothing…wonderful.  

All along the beach were little bundles of organic debris, a mixture of seaweed and other plant
material, which looked lovely and natural.  So I thought I would take a photograph and to my surprise something coloured took my attention inside the small bundle.  The upshot of this revelation was that each one of these lovely little bundles of natural material was held together by plastic filaments.  Usually single blue strands, some with strands of transparent mono-filament net, others contained  more obvious black netting.  There were thousands of these little bundles all along the intertidal zone.  I was totally astonished and unaware of the effect these small plastic fragments were having and the possible consequences for the marine food chain.  It would seem that we have yet another category of marine plastic pollution.

Nick Gray



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