Researchers Find Large Amount Of Tiny, Harmful Plastic Pellets On Ocean Beach
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — A global research project to track one kind of beach debris is raising an alarming concern that there may be a lot more plastic in the ocean than we ever imagined.
At its monthly cleanup Sunday morning, volunteers fanned out over SF's Ocean Beach, looking for plastic trash that can harm marine wildlife. But on this day, the focus was on something that could not be seen.
They're called "nurdles"–tiny plastic pellets about the size of lentils, which are melted down to create the products we all use by various industries.
