Plastic resin pellets are the raw material for the manufacture of plastic products. Due to their size and shape, they can be spilled throughout the supply and use chain or during transport, leading to plastic pellets to be omnipresent in most coastal environments. Although different regulatory and preventive approaches are being promoted and implemented from governmental agencies and the plastic industry at international, EU and national levels, operational and accidental losses occur and there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of prevention and response.
This session aims to present and discuss key issues associated to pellet spillages. After setting the scene and the regulatory framework, two pollution events from sea and land-based sources and an example of measures taken by the plastic industry will be presented and set the basis for a participatory debate to share lessons learnt and identify main challenges and gaps as well as the potential for improvements.
