The impacts of pellet pollution are global, with organisations across the world working hard to solve the problem. 2023 has been a big year already for plastic pollution, April saw the International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting to discuss classification of plastic pellets as hazardous materials, an important step in preventing spills at sea. In May negotiations for a UN Global Plastics Treaty began their second round of talks, aiming to address plastic pollution and waste worldwide. May also saw discussions taking place in the EU parliament involving NGOs and MEPs on how to address pellet pollution.
To help better understand these events we have been hosting our ‘Solutions to Plastic Pellet Pollution’ series of webinars. These aim to bring NGOs working on pellet pollution together, help make new connections and with the help of guest speakers understand what this all means for combatting pellet pollution.
With the series well underway we wanted to share what has been discussed so far. Don’t worry if you missed a past webinar, full recordings of all webinars are available here.
Join us for this months webinar by registering here
Marine Solutions: Classification of pellets as harmful at sea
Our first webinar in the series looks at how plastic pellet spills can be prevented at sea. Particular focus was on the role that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) can play in preventing these spills by classifying nurdles as harmful substances during transportation and handling. This international legislation would be an important step in preventing ocean spills. Guest speakers from Surfrider, Fauna and Flora International and Litter4Tokens shared their experiences of marine nurdle pollution, the work being done to bring attention to the issue and how you can help.
Watch the full webinar recording here
Can the global plastics treaty address pellet pollution?
The second webinar in our series focused on the Global Plastics Treaty, which is under negotiation by countries in the United Nations. We welcomed guest speakers from the Pearl Protectors, who discussed the impact of the catastrophic X-press Pearl disaster and how they have campaigned for legislation change in Sri Lanka and beyond. The Environmental Investigation Agency and Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) presented fantastic insights into what the Global Plastic Treaty could mean for halting nurdle pollution, the negotiation process and how NGOs can get involved.
Watch the full webinar recording here
Laws to end pellet pollution
We are very excited to announce our next webinar event in the series, will be discussing how national and state laws can be implemented around the world to stop nurdle pollution. We have a fantastic line up of guest speakers taking part in the event, including Jace Tunnell from Nurdle Patrol, Heidi Tait from Tagaroa Blue, Lucy Padovani from Surfrider and prominent environmental activist James Wakibia.
Join us for our upcoming webinar on the 24th May (09:00BST) by registering here