Environment Minnesota participates in International Plastic Pellet Count and neighborhood cleanups

Over the last two weeks, the Environment Minnesota team gathered to do trash clean-ups and join in on the International Plastic Pellet Count. Both events yielded around 40 lbs of garbage collected, the majority of which was post-production plastic. 

The International Pellet Hunt, hosted by Environment America, USPirg, StudentPIRGS, the Nurdle Patrol, 5Gyres, Waterkeeper Alliance, and Environmental Action, was held in all 50 states, in over 25 countries, across 6 continents. 992 volunteers gathered across the world to hunt for the pre-production plastic pellets, trillions of which end up in the ocean and water ways every year. While we didn’t find any plastic pellets at our St. Paul Hunt, over 35,000 pellets were found worldwide, highlighting the problem of plastics in our waterways.

While microplastic is rising into more and more headlines, it continues to be a threat to both human and animal health. Plastic Pellets themselves cause a huge problem for fish and marine animals who ingest them, mistaking them for food. 

Both events were held on beautiful spring days. Although we found a good amount of plastic waste, we were all pleasantly surprised by how clean our parks are in Minnesota. But we all agree: we can do better. With the flow of the river and the creek, plastic often gets caught in the roots of old trees along the bank. Some of the most common things we collected were plastic cups, tennis balls and food containers. 

If you would like to conduct your own pellet hunt, please use the Plastic Pellet Hunt toolkit, and be sure to report your findings in the Nurdle Patrol App. 

Neighborhood clean-ups are also easy to do. Simply go to your home city’s website and search “litter clean-up”. They will often provide you with supplies to conduct your own clean-up. If you live in Minneapolis, click here to have supplies delivered right to your door.