Sunken Boat Spills Billions of ‘Nurdles’ into Indian Ocean

A recent article from The Guardian discussed a toxic waste spill from an X-Press Pearl container ship that sank in the Indian Ocean in May. The 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil onboard was expected to be the largest source of pollution, but it was actually the 87 containers containing 1,680 tonnes of nurdles that spilled from the flaming wreckage. What are nurdles you ask? They are lentil-sized pellets, aka “pre-production plastic pellets.” that are the building blocks for all plastic products, including packaging. According to the UN, it is the largest plastic spill in history.