Communities across Northern Spain are facing a potential environmental disaster from millions of tiny plastic pellets, which were spilled by a cargo ship off Portugal in December 2023.

Published 4 months ago

Source:  Marine Industry New UK

On 8 December 2023, the Liberia-registered Toconao, chartered by the shipping firm Maersk, lost six containers while sailing around 80km off Viana de Castelo in northern Portugal. One of the six containers held over 1,000 sacks of plastic ‘nurdles’ — small PET* pellets used in the manufacture of plastic products — weighing over 25,000kg.

Dozens of communities across Spain’s northern coast, including the Galicia and Asturia regions, have seen a “white tide” of the 5mm nurdles washing up ashore in the weeks following the disaster in December.

Hundreds of volunteers have taken to beaches in an attempt to clean up the spill in the north-west Galicia region, while fisherfolk have been searching for sacks floating in the Atlantic.

There are fears the spill will continue to spread further east along the northern coast towards the Basque country.

In a statement, Maersk spokesman Rainer Horn says the shipping company ‘regretted’ the incident and would investigate.

Spain encountered its worst environmental disaster in 2002, when the oil tanker Prestige broke up, spilling 60,000 tonnes of oil along the region’s shoreline.

*PET is not biodegradable, meaning pellets will remain in the environment for centuries. The pellets can also be eaten by animals, and contribute to plastic in the food chain.

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