Plastic pellets, the origin of all plastics
Plastic pellets are tiny beads, no bigger than 5mm. They’re the basic building block for all our plastic products.
Because they’re so small, they’re very easily spilt whilst being produced, transported and stored, and end up in our rivers and seas.
Aquatic animals mistake these pale round balls for fish eggs and eat them, thus introducing plastic pellets into the human food chain.
Did you know that...?
2 million tons of plastic pellets are produced per year in Tarragona, in the largest petrochemical plant in southern Europe.
- The NGO Good Karma estimates that there are between 60 and 90 million pellets washed up on the beach in Pineda, Tarragona.
-In 2023, a cargo ship spilt 6 containers of plastic pellets off the coast of Galicia, causing an environmental emergency. The beaches in Galicia were choked with plastic pellets for weeks on end.
