ReefClean invites the Queensland plastics and logistics industries to make zero pellet loss their goal with a pledge to Operation Clean Sweep®.
Developed by the international plastics industry, Operation Clean Sweep® has been implemented across Melbourne over the last few years, and now with the support of Tangaroa Blue Foundation and Chemistry Australia, the program is being rolled out across the country.
Plastic resin pellets are the feedstock for the plastics industry, being the basis of all plastic products – from plastic bags to bottles to containers. They are lost into the environment during manufacturing and transport when spills aren’t cleaned up, so they enter the stormwater system ending up in our oceans.
As plastic resin pellets resemble small fish eggs, they can be confused as food by marine life and seabirds, also accumulating toxins that are in the seawater that they float through. This results in a toxic pellet that can cause blockages, as well as toxicity in the tissues of wildlife that may ingest it.
The Operation Clean Sweep® program is free for industry members to sign up to, providing checklists, video resources, and a manual on how to implement the program.
It provides multiple benefits, including reducing the cost around the loss of product, improving workplace safety by reducing slips and falls, aligning with a social licence to operate processes, and achieving environmental and sustainability goals.
The message is simple: plastic resin pellet, flake, and powder should be contained, reclaimed, and/or disposed of properly, not lost into the environment.
The AMDI Database has shown there are international and localised pellet losses impacting the Great Barrier Reef, even across some of our most remote areas.
We are looking forward to working with the Queensland plastics and logistics industries to reduce plastic pellet loss and its impact on the Great Barrier Reef.
Join Operation Clean Sweep at www.opcleansweep.org.au
ReefClean is funded by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust.
