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Nurdles on the Shore: Investigating Plastic Pellet Contamination after the MSC ELSA 3 Sinking in Kerala, off Southwest India
Summary
A rapid field assessment conducted 3-13 days after the 2025 sinking of the MSC ELSA 3 container vessel documented widespread nurdle contamination across nine Kerala coastal sites, with LLDPE, HDPE, and polypropylene pellets recovered at densities up to 83 particles per kilogram of sediment. This incident illustrates how maritime accidents can trigger acute, concentrated microplastic pollution events that are poorly regulated yet ecologically significant.
Accidental releases of pre-production plastic pellets (nurdles) during maritime transport illustrate acute but poorly documented sources of marine microplastic pollution. In May 2025, the Liberian-flagged container vessel MSC ELSA 3 sank approximately 38 nautical miles off the southwest coast of India, between Vizhinjam and Kochi, resulting in the large-scale release of plastic nurdles. Given Kerala’s extensive coastline and high maritime traffic, such incidents cause a significant risk of localized coastal contamination. This study presents a rapid-response field assessment conducted within 3–13 days of the accident to document the early-phase extent, dispersal, and characteristics of stranded nurdles before substantial redistribution or cleanup interventions occurred. Beach sediment samples were collected from nine coastal sites across Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts, selected based on observed pellet accumulation in high-risk zones. Nurdles were quantified as particles per kilogram of dry sediment and characterized based on size, shape, and color, while polymer composition was determined using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A total of 617 nurdles were recovered, with mean abundances ranging from 56 ± 3.57 to 83 ± 2.36 particles kg⁻1, showing pronounced spatial variability along the coastline. FTIR analysis identified linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polypropylene (PP) as the dominant polymers, with LLDPE being the most prevalent. The predominance of spherical, white, and larger-sized pellets is consistent with the properties of pre-production industrial pellets and reflects limited environmental alteration during the short post-accident period. The findings provide one of the earliest post-accident datasets on nurdle contamination along the Indian coastline, show the importance of rapid post-incident monitoring and offer critical baseline information for understanding initial deposition patterns, guiding cleanup strategies, and informing future monitoring and policy responses to acute marine plastic pollution events.