📷Jace Tunnell, Harte Research Institute.
Nurdles are small pre-production plastic pellets. They're the building blocks for all things plastic. They are, by definition, microplastics because they are less than 5mm in size. Nurdles are the raw materials used to make plastic products for everything, from clothes to cars, food wrappers to artificial Christmas trees, water bottles, grocery bags, polystyrene foam and more. They have to be tiny so they melt evenly in a mold to form these everyday plastic products.
Nurdles are produced from natural gas or oil and a cocktail of chemicals, including phthalates, Bisphenol A (BPA), flame retardants, organotins, heavy metals, and PFAS knows as “forever chemicals”. Ethane is sent to large-scale petrochemical facilities known as “cracker plants”, where high heat “cracks” molecular bonds and ethane is “cracked” into ethylene and turned into nurdles.
Petrochemical companies’ increasing focus on nurdle production is largely driven by concerns about the potential "sunsetting" of their traditional business model. As climate change dictates a move towards electrification, demand for gasoline and diesel is expected to decline. By pivoting towards plastics production, these companies stay relevant in a future where fossil fuels play a diminished role in everyday life.
Many of these companies produce sachet packaging, a small, flexible bag or pouch that contains a single serving of a product, like ketchup or mustard packs you see here in the US. These small single-use plastic packets are a significant and growing market, especially in developing countries where they can buy a single serving of a product since many of these marginlized communities can’t afford larger quantity units.
Nurdles produced in cracker plants are transported by truck, rail and container vessels to the manufacturers of the end product where they are often released into the environment. They look a lot like fish eggs, small crustaceans, or grains of sand and are often mistaken for food by seabirds, fish and other wildlife. They can cause a lot of damage to marine life. When ingested, they can cause ulceration, malnutrition, starvation, and even death. They can also tangle an animal's intestines or make it feel full, stopping it from eating real food.
Nurdles are not currently categorized as HAZMAT. HAZMAT classification would subject nurdles to more stringent federal, state, and international regulations governing their production, storage, and transportation. They begin as a micro plastic and without proper containment, they continue to fragment into nanoparticles where they contaminate ocean spray and air.
Recycling has a significant impact on the production of nurdles. Effective recycling can reduce the demand for new plastic production thus decreasing nurdle production. Increased focus on recycling can push for better industry practices in plastic production and handling, which may lead to better management of nurdles. The push for more recycling drives innovation in plastic recycling technologies can lead to more efficient production of recycled nurdles.
There are organizations that work to mitigate the negative effects of nurdles and some of them are citizen science organizations like Marine Debris Tracker created by CIRT CSO, Dr. Jenna Jambeck. Nurdle Patrol is one of them. They are is a citizen science project run by the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (Reserve) at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, Texas. They started in November 2018 after a large number of plastic pellets washed up on Mustang and North Padre Islands in Texas during September 2018. They gather information about where nurdles are located, remove the nurdles from the environment, and create awareness about the nurdle issue.
The American Chemical Council developed a voluntary program in 1991 called Operation Clean Sweep (OCS), an industry-led program that supports companies in their efforts towards eliminating plastic resin loss in operations to:
-Preserve water quality
-Protect the environment
-Strengthen worker safety
It’s unclear where the name ‘nurdle’ came from, but it sure is a cute name for a nasty little polluter with a massive impact on our environment and health.
For information on CIRT, visit: https://www.cirt.tech/
