Environmental advocates are urging Colorado state lawmakers to crack down on tiny plastic pellets they say are polluting waterways and threatening wildlife.State Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Jefferson County, and state Rep. Lesley Smith, D-District 49, are backing Senate Bill 26-016, which would bar the discharge of preproduction plastic materials, which are commonly called nurdles. The bill would also prohibit any plastic discharge permits from ever being issued within the state of Colorado.These pellets are small, round bits of plastic, sort of lentil-sized, said Rachel Jaeger, a campaign associate with Environment Colorado, an organization that supports the bill. They can resemble fish eggs if fish were to eat these bits of plastic, and then plastic bio accumulates in their bodies, and then one of our sportsmen here in Colorado fishes a trout out of a river and eats it for dinner, it's very possible that they could be exposed to the plastic, and also to any chemicals that the plastic carries. Cutter, who has worked on plastics and toxin issues for years, said the bill is intended to force stricter handling and transport practices.It just adds an extra layer of caution so that organizations know that when theyre using or transporting these really tiny little plastic pellets that they have to take extra caution, Cutter said. Plastics have been found in 100% of the waterways in which theyre tested it's really important that we do our part in protecting those waterways.Smith, an aquatic scientist with a 30-year career at the University of Colorado, warned the pellets can fragment into ever-smaller pieces that enter food webs and drinking water systems.If these plastics are found, for instance, in our drinking water treatment plants then we are going to be drinking the plastic ourselves, Smith said, noting that early research has even found microplastics inside human brains and hearts.Jaeger said nurdles can be lost at multiple points: during manufacture, in delivery and in transport by truck or rail. Colorado bill aims to ban plastic disposal in our waterwaysSimilar bills have been proposed in other state. To date, California is the only state that has passed legislation specifically targeting plastic pellet pollution. ...read more read less