A nurdle is a small plastic pellet used to create virtually anything plastic. From plastic bottles to automobile parts, they’re widely used in plastic production. Nurdles are made of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, or other plastic types. Also, in some cases, they contain different additives to create pellets of different densities.

They are the raw material for everything that’s made of plastic. But even if they’re tiny, their damage is giant and immeasurable. Because of their size, it’s hard to keep them contained, and they spill into rivers, waterways, and the ocean. Nurdles are a major contributor to marine debris. During a three-month study of Orange County beaches researchers found them to be the most common beach contaminant

Nurdles come in all sorts of colors, and their size and shape make it very easy for marine life to mistake them for food. Nurdles absorb toxins and harmful chemicals like persistent organic pollutants (POP). These come from pesticides, toxins and other harmful chemicals. After nurdles absorb these chemicals, they’re eaten by fish. The toxins in all the microplastics these fish are eating, slowly poisons them. Then either two things happen: 1) The fish dies and it’s eaten by another fish, who then starts to get poisoned too— or 2) You eat the fish for dinner yourself.

More Info: oceanblueproject.org