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Little Green Space |
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Little Green Space |
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LITTLE GREEN SPACE Originally published in the Peak Advertiser on 18 May 2009
Have
you heard of nurdles? No, neither had I until a few weeks ago when we
visited Kimmeridge, in Kimmeridge
is a beautiful, rocky bay – part of Nurdles But
anyway, back to the nurdles. Also known as “mermaid’s tears”,
nurdles are tiny beads of plastic, little bigger than a pin-head, which
are used in the manufacture of plastic goods such as CDs, toys, food
packaging and carrier bags. Hundreds
of billions of pounds of nurdles are shipped all around the world each
year, and inevitably a large amount end up escaping and finding their way
into the sea and onto beaches. At least 10 per cent of worldwide beach
rubbish comes in the form of nurdles. All beach litter is a potential
threat to marine wildlife, but nurdles are particularly dangerous as they
look like fish eggs, an important element in the diet of many sea birds
and other surface-feeding marine animals. Nurdles are packed full of
toxins, and when birds feed them to their young, the babies die. We
first encountered nurdles at the Fine Foundation Marine Centre at
Kimmeridge: there were 200,000 of them in a glass jar standing on the
counter. Back in December 2007 volunteers who had turned up to clear
rubbish from the beach were surprised to find the beach covered in snow.
On closer inspection, however, they were horrified to discover that the
“snow” was actually millions of tiny white nurdles. If left on the
beach the nurdles – like most plastics – will never fully break down.
The only solution is to remove each tiny pellet by hand: an overwhelming
task. Since
then it has been the aim of the Dorset Wildlife Trust to collect and
remove a million nurdles from Kimmeridge. The “nurdleometer” at
Kimmeridge now stands at 200,000 – hence the jar on the counter. Far From
the Sea Here
in the Peak District we are about as far from the sea as you can get in
the However
there is still a lot we can do to help tackle the global problem of nurdle
pollution. The main action, and an easy one, is to reduce the amount of
plastics that we use. Take
carrier bags, for example. We use around 17 billion plastic bags each year
in the UK alone, and only 1 in 200 of these is recycled after use. 60,000
tonnes of plastic bag waste goes to landfill each year, where it will take
between 400-1000 years to begin to break down. Saying
no to carrier bags will not solve our plastics problem, but it is such a
simple step that it is a good place to start. I’m now pretty good at
remembering to take a pile of re-usable bags into the supermarket but
I’m often caught short without a bag in town. So,
as part of Transition Matlock, I have joined a group called the Matlock
Old Bags – we are using old remnants of fabric, such as off-cuts from
curtains, to make sturdy fabric bags that can be used over and over again.
Each bag, during its lifetime, can eliminate the use of around 1000
plastic bags. And they look great. I now keep a fabric bag in my handbag
at all times, ready for those impromptu purchases. If
they can produce enough fabric bags, the Matlock Old Bags plan to hold a
“guerilla bagging” event in the summer. This is not as violent as it
sounds – it involves a group of people offering free re-usable bags to
shoppers who might otherwise take a carrier bag. So
if you are out shopping in the summer, and are approached by an Old Bag
offering a free fabric bag, please accept it! You’ll be taking an
important step towards protecting our environment – as well as helping
to protect many species of marine wildlife. Make a bag If
you can’t wait until summer, and have a load of old curtains in your
attic that are just crying out to be re-used, here’s how to get
bagging… For
1 bag you will need: 2
pieces of fabric 46cm x 51cm 2
pieces fabric 46cm x 10cm Cotton
thread Sewing
machine Iron To
make the handles: Take one piece of fabric (46cm x 10 cm) and fold and
iron a narrow hem along one of the long sides. Fold and iron a wider hem
along the other long side. Then fold over the side with the narrow hem so
that it overlaps the other side, and iron. Sew right down the middle and
along each edge, to make it nice and strong. Repeat with the other handle. To
make the sides: Take one of the larger pieces of fabric. Fold a narrow
hem along the short side and iron. Place a handle over the hem, and fold
over in a wider hem. Sew along the edge of the wide hem. Fold the handles
back up over the hem. Sew a square where each handle overlaps the hem, and
a cross inside each square, to make the handles really strong. Repeat the
whole process to make the other side. Putting
the bag together: Put the two completed sides together, right sides
facing outwards. Sew around the sides and bottom of the bag (not the
top!). Turn the bag inside out. (The wrong sides will now be facing
outwards.) Sew the sides and bottom again, creating a French seam. Turn
right way out again. Finished! Confused?
For illustrated instructions, and more information on guerilla bagging,
visit www.morsbags.com. Penny
at Little Green Space |
