Plastic pellets wash up on Mumbai and Palghar beaches, and environmentalists raise an alarm

A lifeguard first spotted the pellets, measuring up to 5 millimetres, on 23 July at Aksa Beach in northwestern Mumbai.

Tiny white plastic pellets have begun washing ashore on beaches in Mumbai and its neighbouring district of Palghar over the past few days, raising concern among environmentalists that they could enter the food chain and damage marine biodiversity.

However, neither the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board nor the municipal corporations in Palghar and Mumbai have taken any action yet.

A lifeguard first spotted the pellets, measuring up to 5 millimetres, on 23 July at Aksa Beach in northwestern Mumbai.

"They thought it was jellyfish," said Shaunak Modi, co-founder of the Coastal Conservation Foundation. "When our network informed us, our team reached the beach and realised it was plastic."

Modi added that they subsequently inquired if similar sightings had been reported at other beaches.

On 24 July, the group received information about plastic pellets on the beaches at Versova and Juhu, south of Aksa.

Two days later, lifeguard Santosh Tandel found a sack of pellets at Juhu Beach near the Citizen Hotel. "It was heavy," Tandel told Scroll. "When we tore it, we found tiny plastic balls in it."

The sack bore the name Hanwha TotalEnergies Petrochemicals, a South Korean company active in construction, manufacturing, aerospace, and green energy. Scroll has sent an email query to the company. If they respond, the story will be updated.

Tandel said they took the sack to the Santacruz police station. "The police visited the beach and made a punchnama," he added.

Regarding the danger to marine life, Modi stated that the source of the pellets has not yet been identified. "We do not know the quantity that has washed ashore," he said. "When we tested them in water, most pellets were floating. This could be mistaken as food and consumed by birds and fish."

Off the coast of Mumbai, environmentalists fear that dolphins, turtles, and various fish could feed on the pellets.

Microplastics have long been a concern for marine life. Once lodged in an organism's digestive system, plastic can lead to the fish's death or enter the food chain, ultimately ending up in the food of humans.

Modi told Scroll they found crows feeding on the pellets on Aksa beach. "It looks like a tiny jellyfish and can be easily mistaken," he added.

Nandakumar Pawar, from NGO Ekvira Aai Pratishthan, said the plastic could also affect the growth of the mangroves that line Mumbai's coast. "Mangroves are like maternity wards for fish to lay eggs," Pawar told Scroll. "Plastic can harm both the mangrove and the fish."

Lack of action: Stalin Dayanand, the director of the NGO Vanashakti, stated that the spill constitutes a marine accident.

Dayanand said the high tide will throw the sacks and pellets on the coast. "The beach will have to be cleaned using a sand filter soon," Dayanand said, adding that the municipal corporation, collector's office, fisheries department and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board will have to work together.

Modi, from the Coastal Conservation Foundation, said he has already filed a complaint with the disaster management cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

Mahesh Narvekar, head of the disaster cell, told Scroll that the complaint had been forwarded to the Solid Waste Management department. "The SWM department cleans the beaches," he said.

Nitin Parab, Deputy Chief Engineer in the Solid Waste Management Department, said that beach cleanups are undertaken every day. "We are aware of these pellets. From Versova beach, about four sacks and from Juhu beach, one sack full of pellets were cleaned along with other garbage.

An official from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board stated that if the pellets have washed up on the Palghar and Mumbai coasts, the high tide may also carry them to the Raigad, Sindhudurg, and Ratnagiri coastlines. Two officials attached to the pollution board, however, added that the pellet spill "does not fall under our jurisdiction."

Maharashtra Environmental Department Director Abhay Pimparkar stated that since the plastic pellets were found on the beach, the issue falls under the purview of the ports department. "This is not related to us in any way," Pimparkar said when asked about plans to mitigate the impact of the spill.