Kaohsiung, Taiwan. October 28, 2024 – The fifth round of negotiations on the Global Plastics Treaty (GPT) will take place in Busan, South Korea, at the end of November. Since 2022, leaders from around the world have been negotiating this treaty, aimed at addressing global plastic pollution. The UN Environment Programme has described the Global Plastics Treaty as the most important multilateral treaty since the Paris Agreement in 2015. Following the previous four rounds of negotiations, the upcoming session will keep the central focus on how to regulate plastic production to bring an end to plastic pollution.

Greenpeace’s iconic environmental research vessel, Rainbow Warrior, has arrived in Taiwan as part of its East Asia expedition in support of the GPT negotiations. Greenpeace held a press conference on the vessel and unveiled Taiwan’s first systematic research on plastic nurdles sampling, initially revealing the state of plastic material pollution on beaches around the Linyuan Petrochemical Industrial Park in Kaohsiung. Greenpeace urges the Taiwanese government to review current policies on petrochemical industry and plastic production. Greenpeace worked with two academic teams to conduct this research project. They collected samples along beaches near Kaohsiung’s Linyuan Petrochemical Industrial Park. Preliminary findings confirm (as shown in Figures 1 and 2) nurdle pollution across four beaches north of Kaohsiung’s Linyuan Industrial Park—Cijin Beach(旗津沙灘), Cijin Shell Museum(旗津貝殼館), Cijin Wind Power Park(旗津風車公園), and Linyuan Zhongmen Beach(林園中門沙灘)—with the highest densities found on Zhongmen Beach, the beach closest to the Industrial Park. Samples taken in August and September 2024 indicate that Zhongmen Beach recorded as much as 86.23 and 96.63 nurdles per kilogram of sediment, respectively.

Greenpeace East Asia Taipei’s campaigner Chang Kai-ting (張凱婷), explained:

“Nurdles are small plastic pellets under 5 millimeters, used as primary raw materials for plastic products. Once melted, they can be used to manufacture nearly all plastic products. Unlike ‘secondary microplastics,’ which form when plastic waste disintegrates in the natural environment, nurdles are prone to leaking into the environment due to their small size and light weight if not carefully managed by companies. There have been multiple cases internationally of nurdle spills into natural areas, often near petrochemical zones’ drainage pipes or shorelines. This survey collected samples from four beaches near the Linyuan Industrial Zone, all of which, as expected, showed traces of plastic nurdles.”

According to FIDRA [1], a global organization monitoring nurdle pollution, approximately 10 trillion nurdles—equivalent to 450,000 tons—are lost into the natural environment annually during production or transportation. Once they enter ecosystems, they are nearly impossible to remove, making them the second-largest source of microplastic pollution in the global oceans.

In this survey, Greenpeace collaborated with the team led by Associate Professor Ruei-Feng Shiu from the Institute of Marine Environment and Ecology at National Taiwan Ocean University, and Professor Hsu Hung-Chu’s team from the Department of Marine Environment and Engineering at National Sun Yat-sen University. On August 10 and September 27, 2024, they conducted beach sampling around the Linyuan Petrochemical Industrial Zone. Three transects were established on each beach, the high-tide line (upper shore), the low-tide line, and the intertidal zone, with sampling points spaced 200 meters apart. A total of 124 samples were collected and analyzed, comprising 55 and 69 samples from each respective date [2].

Associate Professor Ruei-Feng Shiu emphasized, “This is Taiwan’s first systematic sampling survey targeting plastic nurdles, and the preliminary results show pollution across all four surveyed beaches.These nurdles are predominantly made of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), all of which are lightweight plastics that can float on water (density < 1 g/cm³) [3], making them easily transported through water bodies. Therefore, more testing and research are needed to better understand the potential sources, spread patterns, and accumulation sites of these plastic nurdles. At the same time, corporations also have a responsibility to reduce or completely prevent the leakage of plastic nurdles.”

The research team added sampling points on the northern and southern banks of the Kaoping River (高屏溪) estuary in September. The results showed that on both sides of the Linyuan Drainage Outlet (林園大排) on the northern bank (Figure 3), the highest density was 31.17 plastic nurdles per kilogram of sediment [4].

Chang said: 

“While Taiwan has made continuous progress in plastic reduction, with some policies leading the way in East Asia. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of strict regulation on the production sources of plastic, specifically the petrochemical industry. This is because 99% of plastic materials come from fossil fuels, including oil and natural gas. We urge the government to review petrochemical relevant policies.”

Marian Ledesma, a member of the Greenpeace Global Plastics Treaty Delegation, pointed out:

 “Countries including EU nations, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Rwanda, Peru, and my home country, the Philippines, have already expressed support for reducing plastic production. Following the fourth round of negotiations, the ‘Busan Bridge’ declaration, jointly issued by over 40 government signatories and stakeholders including NGOs and the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, called on nations to set a global target for sustainable production of primary plastic polymers. For Greenpeace, sustainable production means a 75% reduction in global plastic production by 2040. This is to stay below 1.5° C for our climate and to protect our health, our rights, our communities and our planet. We are also calling for the phaseout of single-use plastics, ensuring a just transition to a reuse-based economy and an end to plastic incineration as a treatment method.”

Chang said,

“The key findings show that the risk of plastic nurdles leakage from existing plastic production is not fully understood. Greenpeace urges the Taiwanese government to conduct more plastic nurdles sampling and pollution distribution surveys and to review Taiwan’s plastic reduction and petrochemical policies, such as reassessing the environmental risks and necessity of the expansion project for the fourth naphtha cracker (CPC’s No. 4) in the Linyuan Industrial Zone [5].”

After the press conference, the Rainbow Warrior will sail to the sea off Linyuan Petrochemical Industrial Zone for sediment sampling. This research will continue to use ocean circulation models to estimate the discharge of plastic nurdles and the way spread in the ocean. 

ENDS

First sampling results（August 10, 2024）
Figure 1 – August Nurdle Sampling Results on Beaches. Locations 1. Cijin Beach, 2. Cijin Shell Museum, 3. Cijin Wind Power Park, 4. Linyuan Zhongmen Beach; Linyuan Zhongmen Beach showed the highest density of nurdles, with 86.23 nurdles detected per kilogram of sediment. 
Second sampling results（September 27, 2024）
Figure 2 – September Nurdle Sampling Results on Beaches. Locations 1. Cijin Beach, 2. Cijin Shell Museum, 3. Cijin Wind Power Park, 4. Linyuan Zhongmen Beach; Linyuan Zhongmen Beach still showed the highest density of nurdles, with 96.63 nurdles detected per kilogram of sediment.
North and south banks of Gaoping River sampling results（September 27, 2024）
Figure 3 – September Nurdle Sampling Results on Beaches along the North and South Banks of the Gaoping River. Locations 1. Gaoping River Estuary, 2. South Bank of the Gaoping River, 3. Both Sides of the North Bank of the Gaoping River, 4. Both Sides of the North Bank of the Gaoping River.


NOTES：

[1] https://hub.nurdlehunt.org/solutions/mapping-the-global-plastic-pellet-supply-chain/
[2] Each sampled beach was set up with three transects at the high tide line (upper beach area), low tide line, and intertidal zone, spaced 200 meters apart. A 50 x 50 cm wooden frame was placed on the beach, and sand samples were collected from the four corners and center of the frame, using a metal scoop to gather sand down to a depth of 5 cm. On-site, samples were sieved through a 5 mm stainless steel mesh, and the sieved sand was collected in 250 ml glass bottles, stored under refrigeration, and transported to the laboratory for further analysis.
[3] Polyethylene (PE)（density 0.88–0.96 g/cm3）; Polypropylene (PP)（density 0.90 – 0.91 g/cm3）; Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA)（density 0.92 – 0.94 g/cm3）。

[4] To explore the potential for riverborne nurdle input, additional sampling was conducted in September along the north and south banks of the Gaoping River estuary. Sampling points were added on both sides of the Lin-Yuan Drainage Outlet on the north bank, which traverses Kaohsiung’s petrochemical industrial zone. The highest concentration detected was 31.17 nurdles per kilogram of sand on the north bank, while no nurdles were found at the south bank sampling points. Due to the complex pathways of nurdle transport, further study is underway. (Figure 3 shows the nurdle survey results from the north and south beaches of the Gaoping River.)
[5] Taiwan’s fourth naphtha cracker plant (referred to as “the Fourth Cracker Plant,” commissioned in 1983) is located in the Linyuan Petrochemical Industrial Zone in Kaohsiung, with an existing ethylene production capacity of approximately 350,000 tons per year. In early 2024, the Executive Yuan approved CPC Corporation’s renewal project for the Fourth Cracker Plant, with a budget of NT$106.2 billion, planning to expand the ethylene production capacity to 1 million tons per year through the construction of a new naphtha cracker plant.

Contacts

Greenpeace Communication Officer            Ailing Chen ／0933-911-084    [email protected]  

Greenpeace Plastic Project Campaigner     Cony Chang／0937-219-667　[email protected]