European Commission proposes plastic pellet spillage prevention plan

20 Oct 2023 --- The European Commission (EC) is proposing for the first time measures to prevent microplastic pollution from mass spillage of plastic pellets — also known as nurdles — throughout the plastics supply chain.

Currently, between 52- 184,000 tons of pellets are released in the environment annually due to mishandling. A number of recent disasters, including mass spills in France and Sri Lanka, have brought the issue to international attention. 

This proposal aims to ensure that all operators handling pellets in the EU take necessary precautionary measures. 

The proposals are expected to reduce pellet release by up to 74%, according to the EC, reducing the burden on human and environmental health. 

Proposals on prevention 
Nurdles are one of the largest sources of unintentional microplastic pollution, says the EC. 

The proposals would require that plastic operators act in the following priority order: prevention to avoid any spills of pellets, containment of spilled pellets to make sure they do not pollute the environment, and, as a last resort, clean up after a spill or loss event.

Pellet pollution in France following a mass spill.The proposals include:

• Best handling practices for operators: depending on the size of the installation or transport activity, operators will have to abide by certain handling practices. 
• Mandatory certification and self-declarations: To assist national competent authorities in verifying compliance, larger operators should obtain a certificate issued by an independent third party, while smaller companies should make self-declarations of their conformity.
• A harmonized methodology to estimate losses: to help operators monitor their losses and tackle some of the remaining data gaps, a harmonized methodology will be developed by standardization bodies. It should also increase accountability by increasing awareness of the impacts of different practices on the environment and human health. 
• Lighter requirements for SMEs: as the pellet supply chain has a large share of SMEs, lighter requirements will apply to smaller operators.

Next steps
The European Parliament and the Council will now discuss the EC proposal for a Regulation on preventing pellet losses. All economic operators, both EU and non-EU, would need to comply with the requirements set out in this Regulation within 18 months of its entry into force.

The EC says it will continue to work on reducing microplastic pollution, including implementing existing and forthcoming legislation on products and waste and by leading global efforts to end plastic pollution. 

Current industry efforts 
Plastic pellets are found in water and soil, including agricultural lands, and harm ecosystems and biodiversity. Pellets are known to be eaten by various marine and coastal species, such as sea turtles, seabirds and shellfish. 

The EC is well behind the industry in efforts to combat nurdle pollution. In 2021, European Plastics Converters and PlasticsEurope, the trade association representing plastics manufacturers in Europe, signed an agreement to introduce a certification scheme to reduce pellet loss throughout the plastic supply chain. 

The scheme, implemented across Europe in 2022, forms part of Operation Clean Sweep (OCS), an initiative to achieve zero pellet loss worldwide. Over 1,200 European plastics supply chain companies have signed on to the OCS, including three major ports – Cartagena and Tarragona in Spain and Felixstowe in the UK. 

Recent spillage disasters 
This year, a mass plastic pellet spilled off the coast of Brittany, which was believed to have come from a shipping container somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. While French authorities launched a hunt for the culprits of the spill, environmentalists commented that initiatives like OCS are ineffective. 

In February, Sri Lanka banned single-use plastic following a series of wild elephant and deer deaths from plastic poisoning. The move came after a mass nurdle spill that the International Maritime Organization began investigating. 

By Louis Gore-Langton