Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy has issued a violation notice to a trucking company for a spill of microplastics into the Kalamazoo River near Saugatuck.
Stephanie Kammer, a manager of EGLE's Emerging Pollutants Section, said the company, Quest Liner, was responsible for the discharge of the plastic pellets into the river in violation of the state’s water quality standards, and the company needs to clean up the spill.
Kammer said it's not clear how much microplastic material made it into the river following the January crash on I-196. The violation notice indicates the truck was carrying more than 26,000 pounds of microplastics, but Kammer said the size of the pellets — similar to a grain of rice — makes it difficult to find them once they've spilled.
“Right now it appears that most of the plastic pellets are on land, with some amount that is along the shoreline and within the river itself,” Kammer said. She said that while a significant pile of plastic pellets was removed, pellets on the ground and within the vegetation in the area still remain.
The pellets are called "nurdles." They're used as a starting point for the creation of finished plastic products.
Kammer said the cleanup is underway, with the goal of finishing as quickly as possible. “I think the weather has been kind of an impediment,” she said, but warmer weather on the way could prevent the pellets from getting frozen within the soil.
Microplastics don't break down easily, and Kammer said the material itself isn't hazardous, but it does pose a threat to surrounding wildlife, including fish and birds. If animals mistake the pellets for food and ingest them in large quantities, it can harm their health, potentially resulting in death, she said.
“The pellets also, if left in the environment, have the potential to absorb other contaminants that may be there,” Kammer said, which can make them much more dangerous.
The violation notice requires Quest Liner to submit a report with the amount of plastic pellets that were spilled from its truck and to implement a plan for immediate cleanup.
The company said the crash happened in heavy snow as the truck approached stopped vehicles on the roadway.
"The driver executed a defensive maneuver to avoid colliding with the stopped vehicles," Quest Liner said in a statement. That forced the truck to leave the roadway, resulting in damage that "caused a portion of the load to vacate the trailer."
The company said more of the load left the trailer as it was removed from the scene.
“Since the accident, Quest Liner has and continues to cooperate with local and state authorities,” the company said.
Quest Liner said it’s coordinating with EGLE on a multi-phase cleanup process. The first phase, which includes the removal of the pellet pile adjacent to the accident site, has been completed.
