EU takes aim at plastic pellets to prevent their nightmare cleanup

At first glance, the tiny plastic granules seem relatively harmless. These “seeds,” no larger than lentils, are destined to be melted down to make everything from car bumpers to salad bowls.

But when tens of millions of them spill out of trucks or cargo ships They have a devilish love of creating chaos, ruining landscapes and washing away water all over the world for years to come.

On Thursday, the European Parliament could approve tougher new rules aimed at preventing such catastrophic spills and reducing their pollution impact.

If approved, they would require companies in the European Union to take precautions when handling and transporting the pellets, which are produced by petrochemical giants from fossil fuels.

According to the European Commission, which proposed the rules, between 52,140 and 184,290 tons of pellets entered the EU environment in 2019.

“This is equivalent to between 2,100 and 7,300 truckloads of pellets per year,” the Commission said.

Light, buoyant and insoluble, these tiny granules, when dispersed in nature, pose an almost insurmountable problem.

Remediation is a “physically strenuous and labor-intensive task” that is largely done by hand, according to Kevin Tallec of Cedre, a French nonprofit that specializes in water pollution and treatment.

“We can be 100% sure that if pellet contamination occurs, we will not be able to recover all of them,” says Tallek. marine biologistThis was reported to AFP in Brest, where Cedre is headquartered.

Chronic problem

One of the largest spills occurred off the coast of Sri Lanka in 2021 when thousands of tons of plastic pellets were lost from a stricken cargo ship.

Nurdles covered an 80-kilometer (50-mile) stretch of beach on the island's west coast, and fishing was banned for several months.

In northwestern Spain, volunteers used mesh filters to sift granules from sand along the Atlantic coast after containers of granules fell from a cargo ship in late 2023.

“When I was little, I collected them on the beaches, at that time there were only a few of them. But the pollution has become chronic,” said Amandine Le Moan, co-founder of French coastal conservation group Ystopia.

They enter the body sea ​​lifeparticularly seabirds and turtles, while the chemicals in microplastics also pose a potential risk to human health, the Commission said.

The spills also damaged tourism and fisheries, it added.

Neardle spills often occur when an improperly installed shipping container falls overboard, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has issued non-binding recommendations to try to prevent this.

Major industry players who have adopted these recommendations include Armateurs de France, which represents French maritime transport and services companies.

“These containers must be identified, declared and treated in a special way, like chemicals and hazardous materials located below deck,” Laurent Martens, general delegate of the Armateurs de France, told AFP.

Down the line

However, transportation is not the only source of spills, says Cedre's Tallek, as kernels are also lost through operational channels.

“This is also a broader issue that includes value chainwhich handles these pellets in a way that does not prevent them from entering the environment,” said Lucy Padovani of Surfrider Foundation Europe, an ocean conservation group.

For example, in Ecossinne, an industrial city in Belgium where large petrochemical plants are located, pellets were found scattered throughout the area and in local rivers.

French petrochemical giants Arkema and US companies Dow and ExxonMobil declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

Chemical industry trade groups such as Plastics Europe and France Chimie did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

Plastics makers say they are not the weak link.

“We are very aware of all the problems and it is clear that we need to get rid of plastic pollution,” said Caroline Chaussard, director of sustainability at Polyvia, an industry group of French plastics producers.

“The biggest leaks aren't at the processor level—that's where they're easiest to contain because they're in a confined area,” she said.

Joseph Tayefe, general secretary of Plastalliance, which represents European plastics manufacturers, said “this is an expensive raw material that no one wants to waste.”

“A kilogram costs between 1 euro ($1.17) and 1.3 euros,” he said.

Major oil and gas producing countries are resisting efforts to limit the amount of new plastic produced each year, a figure estimated at 400 million tons.

In August, the latest round of negotiations for a global treaty to combat plastic pollution failed without an agreement.

Philippe Bolot, a French lawmaker who lobbied for a tough treaty, said the grain disaster “revealed the widespread plastic“in modern life.

“The more we consume, the more we will need them,” he said.

© 2025 AFP