MSC Elsa shipwreck: Shipping company starts cleaning waste

T’puram: The shipping company has started cleaning up the plastic pellets that washed ashore at Kovalam.

The pellets, from the consignment of MSC Elsa 3 that sank a year ago, began washing ashore after the sea turned rough due to the monsoon.

Fishermen have been complaining that the cleanup is inefficient and needs to be repeated every time new pellets appear.

The company deployed staff along the beach in Kovalam and cleaned the plastic pellets and other waste that got accumulated on the sands.

Though the shipping company cleared the plastic waste and other debris including empty containers that got washed ashore after the ship sank, the work was stopped soon after they were cleared and stacked at a location.

However, the pellets started to wash ashore in the last few days.

Robert Panipilla of Friends of Marine Life said that it is good that they have started to clear it. “The waste has started to spread on a large expanse of sands. The rough sea during the monsoon is bringing the waste to the shore and it may continue every year,” he said.