I am usually very fascinated by the deep blue, the never ending sea. However I will dedicate this column to something small. Even though it's small size, it has had the greatest impact on me. I'm not sure I'll ever see the beach in the same way again.

A decade ago, I decided to dedicate my life to educating people and cleaning up the environment. I am very curious as a person and not a day goes by where I don't learn new things or facts. There will most likely never be a day when I stand up and say 'That's it, I know it all’. This curiosity has led me to go from 'just’ cleaning up, to educating children and adults as well as promoting zero-waste lifestyles. My curiosity also got me working with other NGOs.

I think we all remember the sea turtle at Golden Bay that laid eggs. I was one of the volunteers guarding those eggs on 12-hour shifts, on some occasions alone. At one point I started sieving the sand through my fingers and this tiny little pearl appeared in my palm. Then another one, and another one. The beach was full of those tiny pearls. How could I have missed them before?

I researched them straight away and learnt that they were plastic nurdles - raw material from plastic production that had somehow escaped into the marine environment. I started collecting them and at this point I thought they were only bad for the marine life. It would turn out to be far worse.

I kept on collecting these tiny nurdles on every beach visit. People would look at me, some curious ones approached me and asked me what I was collecting. I educated people on the nurdles’ presence and the importance of removing them. Last weekend, nearly two years after I discovered them, I found out that there is a whole webpage dedicated to them. Then I learnt that they do not just contain normal plastic. This is where the story takes a bad turn. This is where you should start really paying attention.

The plastic nurdles themselves aren't toxic, but attract Persistent Bioaccumulating Toxins (PBTs) once at sea. These contaminants, which are industrial chemicals, attach to the outside of the nurdle. The level of toxins, once attached to the plastic nurdles, can be millions of times higher than the level in the surrounding sea. PBTs are now banned, but sadly they are still present in the marine environment.

So, now you would think that you simply need to stay away from these plastic nurdles and everything will be fine. The sad part is that these pellets are found on every bay in Malta, at least on every one I have visited so far. One square metre has hundreds of them. How can we avoid them? We are all sitting on them while spending a day at the beach

The more worrying question is; why isn't anything being done to remove them and to inform people of the harm they can do? Why has the sitaution remained the same for the last decade and more?

The plastic nurdles might be small and thought of as insignificant. But their small size is actually what makes them the biggest threat. The more these contaminated plastic nurdles degrade, the harder it will be to clean them up.

At one point we will not manage to clean it up. What is the plan B then?

I know it is overwhelming when thinking about it – the fact that no one can promise that the seas can be cleaned up and nature restored to how it was before the time of single-use plastic - but we have to start somewhere.

A man once told me that his family helped saving turtles from the oils spills in the United States.

As he was handing over all the donated equipment the manager asked him “so when will you start your work for a cleaner environment with less plastic pollution?” The man looked at the manager, confused.

“You see, we can rehabilitate as many turtles as we want, but what do we put them back in once healed?”

When will we start seeing that a healthy environment is the one thing we need to survive. We can save turtles with straws up their nose and baby turtles choking on plastic, but if put them back into an unhealthy environment we are just going around in circles.

Tell me again how important that plastic straw is in your drink?

It's time to re-evaluate what matters to you. That tiny nurdle covered in chemicals should be your wake-up call to take action.

Camilla Appelgren is an environmentalist