The carpet of small white granules along a long stretch of Cagliari's Poetto beach may have a name and origin. The alarm was raised yesterday after numerous reports from suspicious swimmers regarding the presence of thousands of white granules on the shoreline from the first to the sixth stop.
It's definitely plastic. Confirmation comes from the Coast Guard, which has taken several samples and will submit them for further analysis by ARPAS, the regional environmental protection agency. The judiciary has also been informed of the case.
The spheres' appearance is reminiscent of what are known as "nurdles," small pieces of plastic measuring about 5 millimeters in size. They are used as a raw material in the plastics industry, but if they end up in the sea, they can be mistaken for food by fish and, as they degrade, release harmful substances into the environment and marine ecosystems.
Just yesterday at Poetto, near the dog area at the sixth stop, a bag was found that could help understand the origin of the white pellets on the beach: "I found it while I was walking with a friend," explains Marco Fenu . "It was full of these pellets."
The Coast Guard is also providing initial information on the matter : the 25-kilogram bag, damaged by time and water, may have fallen accidentally from a ship, and it's possible it's just one. This morning, teams on land and at sea are searching the area for additional evidence .
The information in English on the found bag is a sort of identity card. The brand is that of Dow, a historic multinational chemical company founded in the United States. HDPE, on the other hand, stands for "High Density Polyethylene Materials," a widely used plastic material used in countless objects and packaging. The place of production is unclear because the multinational has offices around the world, but the story begins in the United States.