Nurdles: The Small Culprit To Our Big Problem
Let’s start at the beginning, that way nothing will be lost in transition...What are nurdles? Put simply, they’re the building blocks of almost all things plastic.
Nurdles are tiny plastic pellets that provide the raw material basis to create almost anything made from plastic. Nurdles are made with polyethylene and polypropylene along with other forms of plastic, all of which have different densities perfect for creating different products. These resin pellets are then shipped in their billions all over the world to begin their lives as a plastic product, which can be anything from automobile parts to plastic bottles. But what’s the problem? So far, they seem like a very useful little tool.
While their size makes nurdles very easy to transport, it also makes them very easy to lose. As soon as they’re created, these nurdles get lost in transition from mishandling within factories, from containers, at docks as well as spillages at sea. Furthermore, their small and lightweight properties mean any drainage designs to limit debris entering our waterways often fails to capture nurdles. As a result, nurdles are entering our oceans in their billions and despite their small size, can cause big problems. It’s estimated that we are losing approximately 250,000 tonnes of nurdles into our waterways on an annual basis.
Unfortunately, unlike bigger pieces of marine litter, nurdles go largely un-noticed… but only by us. These lentil sized, snack lookalikes, have various marine life assuming that they are eggs, and therefore, dinner. This means not only are these nurdles polluting the ocean, they are also becoming ingested by numerous species such as birds, fish, and crustaceans, consequently, becoming part of the food chain. Unable to digest them, these nurdles get trapped in the animals’ stomach, causing ulceration. Despite having a full stomach, these nurdle filled individuals often die of starvation, unable to feed on real food.
Sadly, the problem doesn’t end there. Various studies have also shown nurdles attract and store persistent organic pollutants such as DDT and PCBs. These pollutants are highly toxic causing numerous issues such as neurological impairment, increased risk to cancer and reproductive disorders if consumed. This applies to both the individual consuming the nurdle and it’s predator, which is sometimes us! Nurdles are facilitating the further infiltration of these harmful pollutants into our waterways and oceans at increased concentrations having all manner of knock-on effects on health.
However, there is one good thing to come from our understanding of all this, we know what the problems are, so we can start to fix them. Now unless you, personally, are a nurdle carrier, you might be thinking ‘what can I do to stop this?’. A perfectly valid question. Reactively, you can go and pick them up from the beach. This might sound like a daunting task given the numbers in this article, but to quote Tesco – every little helps! But you can also be proactive. Nurdles are the building blocks of all things plastic, so one of the best things you can do to reduce the demand for them, is reduce your demand for single use plastics. There are also many amazing organisations out there working towards a nurdle free sea, for example The Great Nurdle Hunt and Nurdle in the UK, so go check out their websites to see how you can help more!