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What’s a Nurdle Anyway?

Despite their amusing name, nurdles have very serious negative impacts on our planet with clear harm coming to marine life. They are a type of microplastic, specifically pre-production plastic pellets used to manufacture other plastic goods. Nurdles are on average the size of lentils.


Nurdles aren’t a new concern, first being reported on beaches in 1970, but realistically their impact on our planet coincided with the first production of plastic goods. A large number of the nurdles which are in the sea have been there for decades. Rather than larger plastics which then break down into microplastics, nurdles are already less than five millimetres in size. They slowly break down into even smaller pieces of plastic and are easily mistaken as food. Sadly, this results in marine life filling their stomachs with plastic and starving from lack of proper nutrients. Nurdles impact goes further than just affecting wildlife directly. They act as transportation for toxins where levels of bacteria amplify on the surface of nurdles causing damage when ingested by sea life. The toxicity increases through the food chain affecting fish for human consumption. The impact these tiny plastic pellets have on the environment cannot be understated.


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How do nurdles enter into our environment? Issues tend to arise when nurdles are being shipped around the world but nurdles can also be lost in manufacturing. The recent spill from the X-Press Pearl Container Ship in May 2021 resulted in around 1,680 tonnes of nurdles being released into the ocean. There was a fire onboard the ship causing it to sink and its contents to be released into the sea. This is one of the largest nurdle disasters related to shipping. These tiny plastic pellets cause damage to an almost unimaginable scale. Their size and weight mean they spread through oceans and rivers very easily as they are carried by currents. The damaging effects are evident along coastlines.


Currently, nurdles are not classed as hazardous materials meaning there is little guidance on how to tackle situations when there are spills. This also means there are currently no regulated measures for nurdles transportation. The lack of regulation currently means there are no standardised procedures to clear nurdle spills and no required measures to prevent them. Clean-up for escaped nurdles also poses a challenge. Efforts to recover the spilt nurdles is labour intensive and time-consuming. This is because the tiny nurdles need to be separated from the sand. This is normally done by manually sieving the sand to recover nurdles or floatation in seawater.



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There are programmes like Operation Clean Sweep that aim to promote better practice to prevent nurdle spills. Operation Clean Sweep encourages companies who deal with nurdles to commit to zero nurdles losses from their operations. However, this is a voluntary programme with no true accountability to see if measures are followed. Other organisations such as Fidra, who organise the Great Nurdle Hunt, are also working to challenge these problems. The Environmental Investigation Agency is likewise currently pressuring the International Maritime Organisation to establish proper regulations to treat nurdles as hazardous materials. The X-Press Pearl spill amplified campaigning on this issue. Classifying nurdles as hazardous would minimise the impact of any shipping issues in the future. Properly dealing with nurdles in transportation and through manufacturing processes would protect against their release in the environment by targeting the source. This action is desperately needed when the current estimates show 230,000 tonnes of nurdles enter the ocean yearly.


Despite the worries surrounding nurdles, there are still actions that can be taken. See our previous blog on fast fashion and microplastics to learn more about how conscious consumerism can be embraced to fight the effects of microplastics. Also, take part in future beach cleans we will host! The last beach clean organised at Portobello we witnessed the abundance of nurdles mixed in with the sand. We believe the actions we take as a society will have a collective impact to target the plastic problem and its effect on our oceans. It is important to raise awareness by discussing the issues that impact our seas.



Sources:


  1. Environmental Investigation Agency, ‘Petition delivered, IMO moves Sri-Lankan proposal to discussions in spring’ (Change.org, 25 Nov 2021) <https://www.change.org/p/international-maritime-organisation-stop-plastic-pellet-pollution-at-sea/u/29886374>

  2. Environmental Investigation Agency, ‘Petition the International Maritime Organization to stop plastic pellet pollution at sea’ (Change.org, 1 Nov 2021) <https://www.change.org/p/international-maritime-organisation-stop-plastic-pellet-pollution-at-sea>

  3. Holden E, ‘US climate activists charged with ‘terrorizing’ lobbyist over plastic pollution stunt’ (The Guardian, 25 Jun 2020) <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/25/louisiana-bucket-brigade-arrests-formosa-plastics-protest>

  4. Mexia A, ‘What are nurdles – why you need to worry about them’ (Ocean Blue Project) <https://oceanblueproject.org/what-are-nurdles-why-you-need-to-worry-about-them/>

  5. McVeigh K, ‘Nurdles: the worst toxic waste you’ve probably never heard of’ (The Guardian, 29 Nov 2021) <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/29/nurdles-plastic-pellets-environmental-ocean-spills-toxic-waste-not-classified-hazardous>

  6. Partow H, Lacroix C, Le Floch S, Alcaro L, ‘X-Press Pearl maritime disaster Sri Lanka: Report of the UN environmental advisory mission’ (UN Environment Programme, 6 Aug 2021) <https://www.unep.org/resources/report/x-press-pearl-maritime-disaster-sri-lanka-report-un-environmental-advisory-mission>

  7. Pattiaratchi C, Wijeratne S, ‘X-Press Pearl disaster: an oceanographic perspective’ (Groundviews, 6 Aug 2021) <https://groundviews.org/2021/06/08/x-press-pearl-disaster-an-oceanographic-perspective/>

  8. Plastic Soup, ‘What you can do’ (Plastic Soup Foundation) <https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/how-to-help-the-oceans/#consumenten

  9. Rosenberg L, ‘Although they aren’t classified as hazardous, nurdles are just as dangerous as oil spills’ (Greenmatters, 29 Nov 2021) <https://www.greenmatters.com/p/what-are-nurdles-used-for>

  10. Sky News, ‘Plastic nurdles found polluting 73% of UK beaches’ (Sky News, 17 Feb 2017) <https://news.sky.com/story/plastic-nurdles-found-polluting-73-of-uk-beaches-10771014>

  11. Sky News, ‘South Africa’s ecological ‘nightmare’ after plastic pellets spill’ (Sky News, 24 Feb 2018) <https://news.sky.com/story/south-africas-ecological-nightmare-after-plastic-pellets-spill-11264554>

  12. Williams R, ‘Nurdle hunt helps tackle millions of plastic pellets washed up on UK shores’ (Sky News, 6 Feb 2017) <https://news.sky.com/story/nurdle-hunt-helps-tackles-millions-of-plastic-pellets-washed-up-on-uk-shores-10758094>

  13. https://nurdle.org.uk/

  14. https://www.nurdlehunt.org.uk/the-problem.html

  15. https://www.nurdlehunt.org.uk/news-events/record-number-of-nurdles-found-in-tarragona.html

  16. https://www.nurdlehunt.org.uk/news-events/petition-to-stop-nurdle-pollution-at-sea.html



 
 
 

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