{"id":53255,"date":"2019-02-07T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T04:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/udexpress\/information-talk-it-is-raining-plastic-20190206-2\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T22:05:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T20:05:44","slug":"information-talk-it-is-raining-plastic-20190206-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/udexpress\/information-talk-it-is-raining-plastic-20190206-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Information talk: \u2018It is raining plastic …\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WITHIN 8 weeks since microplastic nurdles, tiny pieces of plastic, were spilled off a ship in Durban harbour during 2017, the scale of the pollution could be traced all along the East Coast up to Gansbaai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voyage of these billions of nurdles will be the topic of discussion tonight at the Know Your Bay public event, where Dr Eckart Schumann, an internationally renowned oceanographer and research associate at the Ocean Science campus of Nelson Mandela University, will be one of the guest speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He will talk about \u201cWhere did the nurdles go?\u201d which spilled off the MSC Susanna during a storm in October 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause the public became aware of the nurdles being washed up on to the shore and reported them to a co-ordinating body, the scale of the pollution could be traced all along the coast, at East London, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay, and at Gansbaai,\u201d said Dr Lorien Pichegru from the Institute for Coastal and Marine Research at Nelson Mandela University. She is also the chairperson of Algoa Bay Hope Spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr Schumann utilises wind, wave and current data to simulate the movement of these microplastic nurdles, and will demonstrate the manner in which plastic pollution pervades all our oceans and seas.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Microplastic falling from sky<\/b>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest speakers Dr Dee Allen and PhD candidate Steve Allen, from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, will talk about \u201cIt is raining plastic. Literally\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey will present some of the hair-raising data that they collected from remote areas, of deposition of microplastic falling from the sky,\u201d said Dr Pichegru. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will also present some of the research they are conducting here in Algoa Bay, part of a pan-Africa river plastic survey aiming at 0 Plastic to the Sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Allen is researching atmospheric microplastic in remote and high-altitude areas around the world with a focus on the French Pyrenees mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Dee Allen is a researcher in urban drainage pollution and co-researcher in atmospheric microplastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban drainage pollution means for instance that plastic being littered in a street in Uitenhage, might eventually via the storm-water drainage system end in up the Swartkops River and finally in the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Beach Clean-ups<\/b>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first WESSA Algoa Bay Branch beach clean-up of the year took place on January 26th at Kings Beach. A total of approximately 190 kg of rubbish was collected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an advance notice of up-coming clean-ups, the public is urged to diarise Saturday, March 2nd and then again Saturday, March 30th. Both will be from 09:30 to 10:30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n