Menu

#microplastics

Rainbow rock on the Dorset coastline

Plastic rocks! (plastiglomerate)

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

edit2

Plastic rocks! 

 (plastiglomerate)
A whole rainbow of bizarre colourful rocks are washing up all along our Dorset coastlines. They might look kind of pretty, or in more muted tones, be almost indistinguishable from the surrounding geology. But are they really just another disturbing example of the plastic crisis close to home?

PLASTIGLOMER…WHAT?

Plastiglomerate was first discovered in 2006 on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii. It was here that Oceanographer, Charles Moore discovered and collected samples of porous volcanic rock filled with molten plastic.

Years later, inspired by the photographs of Charles Moores plastic-rock conglomerates, Dr Patricia Corcoran and Professor Kelly Jazvac decided to visit Kamilo Beach and find out more about the mysterious rocks for themselves.

Kamilo Beach, Hawaii

Kamilo Beach, Hawaii

WHY KAMILO?

Kamilo Beach is well known for the vast array of plastics that wash up there. If you look up Kamilo Beach images on any search engine, you’ll be confronted with page upon page of horrifying pictures of plastic-coated beaches.

Being nearly 12km from the nearest paved road, visitors often camp there overnight and burn detritus on the beach to cook and keep warm. The remoteness and difficult access also makes beach clean-up operations rather tricky.

Hawaii and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Ocean gyres are huge systems of circular ocean currents, formed by both the Earth’s rotation and global wind patterns. There are 5 major ocean gyres, of which the North pacific subtropical gyre is that largest.

As ocean currents move the water around, waste and debris from the surrounding ocean is drawn into the calm centre of the gyre. Ocean gyres encircle vast areas of calm water, where the lack of movement means waste easily accumulates.

The Hawaiian Islands are located within the North Pacific subtropical gyre (aka the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). Ocean currents move in a clockwise direction here (anti-cyclone), depositing detritus along the eastern and south-eastern shorelines of the Hawaiian islands, which includes Kamilo Beach. It has been estimated that up to 90 per cent of the waste that washes up there is plastic!

Ocean Clean-up project estimated that the garbage patch in the North Pacific now covers over 1.6 million square kilometres! 

WHY ARE THEY ON THE BEACH?

When the two Geologists first noticed the plastic rocks in situ on Kamilo Beach, they assumed that it was the result of nearby volcanoes melting beach waste. However, the geologists soon realised that it was actually human action to blame.

The sand and plastic conglomerate the geologists found were the result of deliberate beach fires. The bonfires had melted the plastic detritus onto the sand and through the porous holes of the island’s volcanic rock, creating a kind of polymer amygdale. 

Corcoran and Jazvac took samples away and analysed them. This new discovery was thereon named ‘plastiglomerate’

Fossils of our future

burning plastic 

These strange, plastic rocks form when plastic melts and becomes stuck to hard organic material like stone, sand, shells and coral. Beach fires like those on Kamilo, waste burning (commonplace until fairly recently in the UK) or natural disasters are all causative factors in the formation of plastiglomerate. 

Plastic that melts into the porous holes of rock (vesicles) is also called a plastic amygdale. The long-term fate of plastiglomerate or plastic amygdale is still unknown. Some scientists and geologists believe these will become the fossils of our age. However, others have suggested that given the right conditions, they could become oil once again. Either way though, they definitely shouldn’t be part of the legacy we leave behind! 

THE LIFE OF A PLASTIC ROCK

  • Plastic is burnt
  • Heats melts it into molten plastic goo
  • Molten plastic goo sticks to sand, stones, shells and other plastic pieces on the beach
  • The plastic cools and hardens
  • Organic material is now trapped within the plastic, creating plastiglomerate
  • Plastiglomerate then becomes buried on the beach or is washed out to sea
  • Wave action wears away at the plastiglomerate, smoothing its surface or breaking it down into smaller pieces called ‘Clastic Plastiglomerate’
  • Heavier pieces, containing more stone and less plastic can then sink to the sea bed, lighter pieces will be more buoyant and float, occasionally sinking and resurfacing
  • Some pieces are thrown out by the sea and deposited on the beach at low tide. These plastic rocks will then either be collected by people, be washed back out to sea at high tide, or become buried.
  • These sunken and buried pieces of plastiglomerate could well end up being the fossils of today

 

NOT JUST KAMILO…COMING TO A BEACH NEAR YOU!

edit7

Plastiglomerate may have been discovered and named in Hawaii, but it’s a global occurrence. The images used in this post show examples of some of the plastiglomerate found along our local Dorset coastline. The rocky beaches along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, where washed up plastic was burnt until fairly recently is the perfect place to hunt for these rainbow rocks. Like nurdles, once you spot one, you’ll keep finding more! 

  • Have you found any plastic rocks on the beach?
  • What natural material can you identify in it?
  • Can you identify any of the plastic pieces within it?

References

Newer R, June 2014, Future fossils:plastic stone, The New York Times, Viewed 2 June 2021 <Future Fossils: Plastic Stone – The New York Times (nytimes.com)>

Trinastic J, July 2015, Plastic rock: the new anthropogenic marker in the geologic record, Nature Education, viewed 2 June 2021 <Plastic rock: the new anthropogenic marker in the geologic record | Eyes on Environment | Learn Science at Scitable (nature.com)>

Corcoran P L et al, June 2014, An anthropogenic marker horizon in the future rock record, GSA Today, viewed  2 June 2021. <GSA Today – An anthropogenic marker horizon in the future rock record (geosociety.org)>

SHARE THIS POST
Nurdles at Holes Bay, Poole

Noxious Nurdles

, , , , , , , , , , ,

"C:\Users\rosie\Downloads\IMG_9727.MP4"
20200517_134058

Noxious Nurdles

What on earth is a nurdle?

Nurdles are small plastic pellets, about the same size as a lentil. They are used all around the world to manufacture most of the plastic products that we use in our daily lives through a process called injection moulding (see diagram below). From bottles to buckets and all the containers, toys, plastic bags and car components in between, all of these products start life as a tiny plastic granule. 

HeroImage

Over 350 million tonnes of plastic is produced worldwide every year, that’s more than the total weight of the human population … that’s also a lot of nurdles!

So why are they on the beach?

 A huge issue with nurdles, is in their transportation. A British made bucket and spade might be made in your home town, but the plastic pellets used to make them could be produced as far away as Asia. From their initial production, those nurdles have a long journey ahead of them, with a lot of stops en-route, and incidentally a lot of opportunities for them to be spilt.

While large container ship spills like the one in Durban, South Africa in 2017 are shocking, they are not rare. And potentially more concerning is an estimate that in the UK alone over 53 billion pellets could be entering our oceans every year. That’s equivalent to 35 tankers full being dumped into our oceans!

Accidental spills can happen at any stage in the life cycle of plastic. From the manufacture of the nurdle itself, to its transportation, manufacture into a plastic product and then again when it is turned back into a nurdle if the end product is recycled. Because nurdles are so small, light and buoyant, they easily end up in our storm drains which lead into the sea.

nurdle image 1

Nurdles are classed as a primary microplastic (because they start off smaller than 5mm instead of being broken down to this size). However, like any other plastic, through UV rays, wave and weather action, nurdles will still be broken down into smaller and smaller pieces over time.

Why does it matter?

Tiny plastics, like nurdles can be difficult for fish and birds to distinguish from their real food sources. This means they are easily ingested, and can then cause a whole myriad of health problems for the animal involved. As plastics are not digestible, they can build up in the stomach and block the animals digestive tract, preventing them from taking on the food they need to survive. When the animal dies, the plastics within them are once again released into the environment, and the whole cycle is allowed to start again.

Aside from being ingested by wildlife (and potentially us-further up the food chain), another concern with plastic pellets is their ability to attract and harbour Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP’s). These are harmful chemicals, some of which, despite being banned decades ago due to their extreme toxicity, still exist in our waterways and oceans. Nurdles themselves contain a multitude of noxious chemicals to begin with. Combine this with a coating of POP and add a nasty biofilm of E-coli to the mix, and that single nurdle becomes a complete environmental catastrophe!

PERSISTANT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS (POPS)

DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) – Used in World War 2 to control Typhus and Malaria, and then as a pesticide. Because of its toxic effect on animals and humans, the UK banned its use in 1984.
• NPEs (Nonylphenol ethoxylates) – This is a stabilising agent that is mixed with plastic and rubber. It is extremely harmful to both sea life and birds, and thought to interfere with reproductive hormones.
• HCH (Hexachlorocyclohexane) – This was used in the 1960s and 70s in the timber industry as an insecticide. Toxicity from HCH builds up over time in fish, and It has also now been labelled as carcinogenic .
• PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyl) – Used in electrical wiring and as an industrial coolant, PCBs have been known to be toxic since the 1970s!

22bdec193ac434d8dbbb219143e07156

how can you help?

If you come across a patch of nurdles along the coast and decide to pick some up, only do this if you have gloves and something to contain them in (not your pocket though). POPs and E-coli are not things to mess with! While it’s great to try and remove them from the environment, it’s also an impossible task to remove them all.

Go on a Nurdle Hunt

Report your nurdle discovery to The Great Nurdle Hunt. They have already received nearly 6000 reports of plastic pellets along our coastlines. The data they collect is being used to create a map of pollution hot spots, and help influence big decision makers to take proper action against nurdle spills. 

Stemming the tide on nurdle pollution is mostly down to better waste management and drain filtering systems being adopted by all the companies who handle plastic pellets.  Fidra are working on exactly this. They are working with trade and manufacturing associations, suppliers and big decision makers to establish mandatory regulations better reporting around plastic pellet management and loss.  

Manufacturers will only supply what we demand.

Reducing our consumption of single use plastics as individuals will both reduce the risk of nurdle spillage, and also put much needed pressure on businesses to cut back on pointless plastics. 

Once spilt, nurdles are likely there to stay, but whatever we can do to help is definitely worth the effort!

Key Facts

  • Nurdles are small plastic pellets, about the same size as a lentil. They are used all around the world to manufacture most of 350 million tonnes of plastic products that we produce every year.
  • You can fit about 300 nurdles on a single tablespoon!
  • Because they are so small, light and buoyant, nurdles are easily spilt and wash down through storm drains that lead into the sea.
  • Nurdles can appear as an appealing meal to wildlife like birds and fish, but cannot be digested, so cause a host of health problems, sometimes resulting in death.
  • Our plastic consumption is only growing. In the UK alone, an estimated 53 billion nurdles are lost into the environment every year, making them commonplace in our oceans and coastlines. Once lost, they are near on impossible to remove completely.

The Problem (nurdlehunt.org.uk)

Sea Watch Foundation » We’re Going On a Nurdle Hunt!

Nurdle spill covers South African beaches in plastic | TradeWinds (tradewindsnews.com)

South Africa’s ecological ‘nightmare’ after plastic pellets spill | Climate News | Sky News

How the Plastic Particles Called Nurdles Pollute Oceans – The Atlantic

What Are Nurdles? (metrowaste.co.uk)

Report_briefing.pdf (nurdlehunt.org.uk)

plastic_ingestion_web_spreads.pdf (d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net)

Plastic-and-Health-The-Hidden-Costs-of-a-Plastic-Planet-February-2019.pdf (ciel.org)

Fidra, Environmental charity works on plastic waste and chemical pollution

The Great Nurdle Hunt, Reducing plastic pellet pollution at sea.

 

SHARE THIS POST