All That Glitters?

After its ban on decorative glitter, the European Union (EU) is planning to deal with a much larger and insidious plastics problem. Tiny plastic pellets ('nurdles' or 'nibs') are melted down before being reformed as products ranging from furniture, to clothing to water bottles. It's been estimated that between 52,000 and 184,000 nurdles 'leak', every year, from these processes into EU environments. Over time, nurdles breakdown into microplastics, entering food chains and bodies. The EU want to legislate, making manufacturers handling these plastic pellets, improve the efficiencies of their processes. Major operators will be expected, where possible, to prevent spills; contain any spills that do happen and clean up after uncontained events. Smaller manufacturers must also help but will have less onerous regulations. It's estimated that these changes would greatly reduce the release of microplastics into EU environments (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/17/eu-to-crack-down-further-on-microplastics-after-glitter-ban). There's a serious fear that microplastics will damage human health. Just how damaging nurdle release can be, is also clearly illustrated by an event in Sri Lanka. In 2022, the cargo ship X-Press Pearl caught fire and sank, releasing billions of nurdles on to pristine tourist beaches. The subsequent clean-up proved exceedingly difficult and hazardous.