The small, lens-shaped granules known as nurdles are the fundamental building blocks for nearly all plastic items in modern society. These pellets serve as the raw material that is melted down and formed into countless products, from packaging to vehicle components. Despite their industrial utility, nurdles represent a significant and often unseen form of pollution, posing a severe threat to global ecosystems.
Defining Pre-Production Plastic Pellets
These tiny industrial components are most commonly referred to as nurdles, though their official name is pre-production plastic pellets or resin pellets. They are sometimes called “mermaid tears” when found washed up on shorelines. Nurdles are classified as primary microplastics because they are intentionally manufactured to be small, typically measuring between 2 to 5 millimeters in diameter, roughly the size of a lentil.
They are composed of various thermoplastic polymers, most commonly polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyvinyl chloride. The specific polymer dictates the properties of the final product, such as its rigidity or flexibility. In their raw state, these pellets are the standardized unit of plastic resin used globally.
The Manufacturing Supply Chain Role
The primary purpose of nurdles is to act as the base feedstock for the entire plastics manufacturing industry. They are the standardized, easily transportable form of plastic resin produced at petrochemical facilities. This pelletized form allows for efficient handling, shipping, and storage across the global supply chain.
From chemical plants, nurdles are shipped in bulk containers via trucks, rail, and cargo vessels to processing factories worldwide. Their uniform size and shape are specifically designed to be easily managed by industrial machinery. At the manufacturing facility, the pellets are fed into machines like extruders or injection molders.
The pellets are melted down under high heat and pressure, allowing the molten plastic to be forced into molds or dies. This process creates the final plastic products, which include everything from single-use water bottles and food packaging to durable goods like car dashboards, electronic casings, and children’s toys. A single small disposable water bottle, for instance, can require approximately 600 nurdles to produce.
This system relies on the pellet form because it is the most practical way to move massive quantities of raw material to diverse manufacturing sites. The vast global production of plastic resin, estimated to be hundreds of millions of tons annually, all begins with these small pellets.
Ecological Impact and Distribution
The problem arises when nurdles escape confinement at any point in the supply chain, transforming them from an industrial commodity into a widespread pollutant. Release occurs during production at chemical plants, packaging and transfer between transport modes, and through accidental spills from ships and rail cars. Their small size and lightweight nature mean they are easily lost to the environment through drainage systems, wind, or stormwater runoff.
Once released, their buoyancy allows them to float as marine debris, carried by ocean currents across vast distances, often washing up on remote beaches worldwide. They are a significant contributor to primary microplastic pollution, with an estimated 445,970 metric tons entering the environment globally each year. Cleaning up these spills is difficult due to their size and widespread dispersal.
The presence of nurdles in aquatic environments poses a direct threat to marine life, which often mistakes the pellets for food sources like fish eggs. Organisms such as seabirds, turtles, and fish ingest the plastic, leading to internal physical obstruction and a false sense of fullness. This can ultimately cause starvation and death.
Beyond physical harm, nurdles act as “toxic sponges” in the water. The plastic surface attracts and absorbs harmful substances from the surrounding environment, particularly Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and DDT. These toxins can concentrate on the pellet surface at levels over a million times higher than in the surrounding seawater.
When marine animals ingest these contaminated pellets, the concentrated toxins can leach into their tissues, causing bioaccumulation within the food web. This introduces hazardous chemicals into the food chain, which can eventually pose a risk to human health through the consumption of contaminated seafood. Nurdles also serve as a transport mechanism for harmful microbes, including pathogenic bacteria.