PennEnvironment joins the first ever International Plastic Pellet Count!

The first ever International Plastic Pellet Count is now in the books! On Saturday, May 3rd, PennEnvironment joined groups from across all 50 states and over a dozen countries in searching our local waterways for tiny plastic pellets.

Our volunteers found 369 plastic pellets in just 20 minutes of hunting near the Delaware River in Marcus Hook!

PennEnvironment staff and volunteers search for plastic pellets near Marcus HookPhoto by TPIN | TPIN

Plastic pellets are the raw material that’s used to make familiar plastic products like water bottles, grocery bags and foam. These tiny plastics are often spilled, leaked or dumped into the environment, especially our waterways, during manufacturing and transport. As a result, they frequently wash up on riverbanks, lakeshores and beaches.

Wildlife often mistake plastic pellets for food, and if ingested, pellets can block an animal’s airways causing them to choke.They can also carry harmful chemicals that get ingested along with the pellets which work their way up the food chain, causing wide-ranging harm.

As our hunt and events like it around the world demonstrated, these plastic pellets are everywhere and pose a real danger!

Photo by TPIN Staff | TPIN

We can tackle this problem by cutting our reliance on the wasteful single-use plastic products these pellets are used to make. Yet another reason we need to move away from single use plastics to a zero waste future!

Learn more: 

• What are nurdles 
• Toolkit: single-use plastic laws in PA
• Where is plastic produced