A hundred people took part in a collection action on a beach in Pornic (Loire-Atlantique) on Saturday to denounce the pollution of plastic micro-beads stranded there and on other beaches in the northwest in recent weeks.
“
It is believed to be a container that may have been damaged some time ago, and which, with the recent storms, opened up
”, thus spreading the pellets along the shores, explained Lionel Cheylus, spokesperson for the NGO Surfrider foundation.
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These pellets, also called GPI (industrial plastic pellets) or "
mermaid's tears
", are melted "
to make all everyday plastic objects
", continued Lionel Cheylus.
"
We found pellets in December in Finistère, then it was in Sables d'Olonne, after that it was here in Pornic (...), Friday, it was still in Noirmoutier.
It's pollution that moves
,” added the spokesperson for the NGO
Surfrider
, at the initiative of the demonstration.
On the beach, people of all ages scraped the sand for two hours to pick up these round, white micro-beads, which are the size of a grain of rice.
With the recent passage of storm Gérard, pellets were difficult to find for the demonstrators who wrote on their signs: “
Plastic pollution = guilty industry!
and "
Poison for the fish
".
These pellets, also called GPI (industrial plastic pellets) or "
mermaid's tears
", are melted "
to make all everyday plastic objects
".
LOIC VENANCE / AFP
“
It's more symbolic than anything else: I don't think we're going to pick up the whole container!
quipped Annick, a retiree who had filled the bottom of a yoghurt pot with a few dozen pellets.
We should have a "
clear definition at the international level, that these are dangerous products, and once we have this condition which is fulfilled and recognized, then there is have a specific color of the containers making it possible to identify that there is danger
”, wished Joël Guerriau, senator for Loire-Atlantique.
Read alsoWhat are these "mermaid's tears" that pollute part of the Atlantic coast?
The mayor of Pornic, Jean-Michel Brard, was also present on the beach.
He filed a complaint against X on Monday following this pollution, as did the mayor of Les Sables d'Olonne, Yannick Moreau, and the president of the Pays de la Loire region, Christelle Morançais.
“
The State is alongside the associations, and I am announcing that we are taking legal action,
” the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu told AFP, describing the GPIs as an “
environmental nightmare
”.
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